


heat of an australian summer

by minkit



Category: ENHYPEN (Band), I-LAND (Korea TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Happy Ending, Jealousy, M/M, Making Out, Romance, Self-Discovery, Summer Fling, Teen Romance, a few OCs - Freeform, alternative universe, lots of kissing in this one guys, slight angst, takes place in australia but is written by someone who has never been
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:12:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27143653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minkit/pseuds/minkit
Summary: A year after an accident took away Sunghoon's dream, he and his family go on vacation to Brisbane, Australia for his aunt's wedding. There he meets Jake, a boy who might very well change his life forever.
Relationships: Park Sunghoon/Shim Jaeyoon | Jake
Comments: 62
Kudos: 327





	heat of an australian summer

**Author's Note:**

> Believe it or not, this took me even less time to write than the SunKi AU. I wrote a good 1/3rd of it (about 10k words) YESTERDAY. honestly I'm astounded and amazed. I've written more in the last week and a half than I have since January!
> 
> Guys, I'm absolutely in love with this one. I hope the ending is okay. I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to end it but I wanted to leave it... open... for the future... possibly ;)
> 
> I hope you enjoy! <3

**December 2017, age 16**

The air had the distinct chill to it that came with being on the ice. Sunghoon rubbed his hands together as he did his brief warm up before settling at the middle of the rink, the murmurings of the crowd slowly disappearing into silence until all he could hear was the announcer.

“Park Sunghoon, just turned sixteen. He’s done quite well for himself over the last year. He’s the favorite to win gold here today and then he will be making his way to the Grand Prix. Everyone has high expectations of him and we all expect to see him at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.”

He closed his eyes, visualizing what he wanted to happen next and as the music began, his body moved, spinning off into smooth, gorgeous movements that had the crowd gasping. Sunghoon always had been called a vision of grace and beauty.

The medal weighed heavily around his neck only an hour or so later as he stepped off the ice, at once his arm being grabbed hold of by his mother and manager. She was telling him how he had almost missed a landing and he was very lucky to have one this one and that he needed to be more careful next time and go home to practice right away.

Sunghoon smiled because it’s what he expected from his mother and the two of them posed for a couple of pictures before he was ushered off to the locker room where the snapping of cameras and the chattering of paparazzi and fans finally faded away to silence.

He let out a breath, his shoulders drooping just a little as he went over to the locker he had been given for the tournament. As he sat and began removing his skates, the silver medal winner Cha Hyunjoon stepped out from the shower, towel around his waist and another in his hand as he dried his hair. Sunghoon barely spared him a glance, didn’t bother sparing him a word as he removed his skates and began packing them away.

There was a slight scoff from behind him. Sunghoon stilled for a moment before deciding to ignore it, grabbing a change of clothes from his bag and starting to remove his skating outfit.

“Not going to shower, Park?” Hyunjoon questioned and Sunghoon could hear the sliding of clothes as the other pulled on what he assumed was his pants.

“I’ll shower at home.” He just wanted to get out of there, wanted to be off in his room or at his local rink, practicing the move his mother had said he’d almost messed up. 

“You know, I could’ve sworn a part of your routine was awfully similar to one from a few years back, Park.” Hyunjoon’s words were matter-of-fact, no real insult or demeaning in his tone, but Sunghoon could hear beneath the way he spoke, digging deep in between his lines. 

Sunghoon shook his head and pulled on his shirt, remembering that he still had the medal on. He wanted nothing more than to take it off and toss it into his bag, but he was expected to come out of the locker room wearing it. They’d probably want more pictures. 

“Maybe the reason you got second to me is because you concentrate more on what I’m doing in my routine than what you’re doing in your own.” Sunghoon called over his shoulder towards the other, listening as Hyunjoon’s locker slammed shut a little bit harder than was normal. 

Sunghoon zipped up his jacket and shut his own locker gently before grabbing his bag and tossing the strap over his shoulder. “Better luck next time.” He told the other who just smiled tightly and nodded before Sunghoon turned and walked out, the flashing lights of the cameras blinding him almost at once.

It was the sirens that woke him up. Or was he even asleep? His eyes were opening and when they opened, the world was upside down. Sunghoon’s vision blurred and it took it a moment for it to clear enough so that he could see the flashing lights from outside or how multiple pairs of legs rushed towards him.

He coughed and then cried out as a jolt of pain shot through his leg. Sunghoon tried to look down, or rather up but another spark of pain flared through his neck. 

“Don’t move! We’re going to get you out of there, don’t worry!” Came the calls of people from the outside. Sunghoon tried to open his mouth to speak, but nothing came out of him, and just as the door of the car was pulled free and three paramedics reached in to carefully pull him out, Sunghoon felt himself falling back to sleep.

**1 Year Later, January, 2019, age 17**

“Flight number 372, Seoul to Sydney, is now boarding passengers with the first class level boarding pass.” The intercom called throughout the airport. Sunghoon opened his passport, peeking at his ticket although he already knew he had a level 2 pass. 

From his right, his twelve year old sister Gaeun squirmed in her seat and he quickly glanced down at her as she eyed the line forming to go into the plane. “What’s wrong?” He leaned towards her, asking her quietly.

She flushed a bit and grasped at the arms of her seat. “I have to pee.” She hissed. Sunghoon gave a small laugh and shook his head.

“Then go. You still have time. We don’t need to line up right when we’re called, as long as we’re on before doors closing. The bathroom is right there.” He nodded to just behind them.

“She can hold it.” His mother said from the other side of him, sounding impatient. “If she had to go, she should’ve gone when I asked.”

“I didn’t have to go then.” Gauen muttered beneath her breath.

“What was that, Gauen?” 

“Nothing, ma.” Gauen sighed, drooping back into her seat. Sunghoon let out a small sigh of his own and patted her head, assuring her that they would be on the plane soon and she could use the bathroom before take-off. 

They were headed to Brisbane, Australia for a month as his mother’s sister was getting married and she was to be helping with the wedding. School didn’t get in the way since the both of them were home-schooled and had been since figure skating had taken over their lives when Sunghoon was a child.

Sunghoon wished he could say he was excited, but he knew nobody there. He had a few cousins who were going to be there, some he had met, some he had never even heard of, and he knew they were his age, but they were so vastly different than him that he couldn’t see them getting along very well.

At least Gaeun was excited to finally get to be around some girls her age. So the trip would be good for someone, he supposed.

Sunghoon must’ve zoned out because the next moment, his mother was shaking him, telling him to grab his things because it was time to board. He picked up his carryon bag and followed his father into the line, Gaeun in front of the both of them bouncing on her heels. 

Once they were in the plane and through the line, Gaeun shot off towards the bathroom, leaving Sunghoon to put both of their bags in the overhead container. He slid into his seat by the window and leaned his head against the cool glass. It was still mostly dark outside, the sun just beginning to rise thus casting the sky into a dark navy blue rather than deep black. He watched the men below pile the passenger’s luggage into the plane and soon his sister was dropping into the seat next to him with a sigh of relief, their mother beside Gaeun and their father in the next aisle over.

As he watched, a light snow began to fall from the sky, dusting the tarmac, though it seemed to melt soon after. He wondered if the ground was warm from all the planes coming and going.

The snow made him think of last year. It made the sound of sirens echo in his head and he winced, quickly pulling his phone and earphones from his pocket, deciding that the best way to get rid of the images and sound was to deafen himself with music instead.

The flight was long and mostly uncomfortable. For the most part, Sunghoon either read, listened to music, or slept. Halfway through, they were given a meal and it was somewhat edible, but Sunghoon found it difficult to stomach it. He’d found it difficult to stomach much of anything in the last year since the accident.

Eventually they arrived in Sydney and boarded their flight to Brisbane. Gaeun looked worn out from the long trip, but happy to know that at least there was only a few hours left. Sunghoon opted to watch an in-flight movie with her, having just enough time to finish it before the plane landed.

The difference in weather was almost shocking, even though he had known ahead of time that what was winter in Korea was summer for Australia. The heat was sweltering and had him stripping himself of his sweater only moments out of walking from the air-conditioned airport. Gaeun as well was fanning herself from the blistering heat as their mother stepped away from the three of them, finger over one ear as she spoke into her phone.

“She’s on the phone with her sister. Your uncle is supposed to be picking us up.” Their father explained as he craned his neck, looking around before pointing off into the distance. “Ah, Nayoon, there he is!” Sunghoon’s mother turned to look where his father was pointing and then wished his aunt goodbye, ushering the rest of them over to the car.

Sunghoon greeted his uncle (or soon-to-be rather) quietly and politely, helping to put the luggage in the back of the minivan that he had apparently had to borrow in order to fit all of their stuff. They then all piled onto the vehicle and soon they were off and headed towards where they would be staying.

_ Park Sunghoon… favorite to win… expect to see him at the Beijing Winter Olympics… _

He closed his eyes, trying to block out his own thoughts, but closing his eyes only caused the sight of red and blue flashing lights to flare up in his mind’s eye. Sunghoon shook his head, turning towards his sister.

“What’s that?” He points at her.

“What?” She asked, looking down at her shirt where he was pointing and he quickly flicked her nose.

“That.” Gaeun whined at the lame prank and Sunghoon laughed, not too much longer later they pulled into the driveway of a large house and his month long ‘vacation’ began.

The first night and day of their ‘vacation’ was full of being dragged across the city with the rest of ‘the boys’ (as Sunghoon’s uncle for some reason liked to put it). He was pulled along to arcades and restaurants and even a football field to play. All of which he passed on except for the food, opting to sit at the side, staying silent as he just watched.

At the end of the first full day, Sunghoon collapsed on the guest bed he’d been told to make himself at home on and stared up at the ceiling, letting the silence of the late night envelop him. 

This time last year, he’d finally been released from the hospital, bound to a wheelchair and scheduled physical therapy three times a week. 

Sunghoon winced at the sudden phantom pain that sparked through his leg, a reminder of everything he’d lost, and everything he could never have back.

**January, 2019, Day 3**

“I’m going out.” Sunghoon told his mother the moment she set down her phone to eat her breakfast on day three of their vacation. She’d constantly had her phone attached to her ear, and though Sunghoon knew what and who she was trying to get a hold of, he pretended that he didn’t. 

“Oh? Where are you and the boys going today?” She asked, her voice distracted, as if it was more of a duty to ask this question than genuine curiosity.

“No, I mean I’m going out. By myself. To explore.” He said, grabbing the orange juice and pouring himself another small glass.

His mother started shaking her head. “I don’t think that’s such a--”

“I think that’s a fun idea!” His father interrupted and the three of them (Gaeun included) all turned to look at him in surprise. He rarely disagreed with Sunghoon’s mother. “It’s important for boys his age to become independent. He needs to learn how to navigate on his own.”

“The last time he was without either of us--”

“I’ll be fine.” Sunghoon interrupted quickly, not wanting this argument to start up again, not wanting to cause troubles. “I just need to be on my own. Just for a day. Dad can go with the others because he enjoys it and Gaeun can do her thing and you yours… I can manage. I won’t go far. Just to the park a few blocks away.”

Sunghoon’s mother looked at him, her face pinched into a look that told him she definitely did not like the idea, but eventually she sighed and nodded, sipping at her coffee.

“I can’t come with you?” Gaeun pouted and Sunghoon gave her a small smile, pressing his hand gently to the top of her head.

“Not this time. Next time, okay?” Sunghoon promised, giving her a small squeeze. He wished his parents a good day and quickly headed towards the front door, sliding on his shoes before he stepped out into the heat.

He cursed himself inwardly for having chosen to wear a dark t-shirt when, the moment he was outside, he could feel the sun burning at him, but he didn’t want to go back inside and instead got out his phone, looked up the nearest park, and started walking.

Sunghoon walked slowly, enjoying the scenery. They were near the water, the road shaded by trees offering slight reprise from the heat of the Australian summer day. He followed along with his map app, careful of cars and motorists, as well as just the people he passed on the street as he crossed a few roads.

And then his map began telling him to go in the opposite direction. He frowned, looking at it but slowly followed the arrow that, after a dozen or so steps, whirled around once more, pointing him off the way he had come.

He sighed and then turned and before he could even make a move, he heard a yell of, “Watch out!” and felt a force smack him straight backwards. He let out a small grunt, tumbling backwards onto a portion of grass, surprised momentarily when his head hit something much softer than the ground he had expected to feel.

Sunghoon groaned at the weight on top of him and looked up, his breath automatically catching in his throat and he wasn’t sure it was entirely because of the fall.

The boy above him winced a little, his dark brown fringe hanging so that it almost brushed Sunghoon’s cheeks. “Sorry ‘bout that…” He spoke and Sunghoon noticed the braces that lined his teeth, keeping them straight. “Are you okay?” 

He blinked, realizing that he was being spoken to. “Oh--yes. I am okay.” The English felt weird on his tongue as he spoke and he watched as the other boy tilted his head, looking at him curiously.

“Are you Korean?” He asked and Sunghoon gave a small nod. The other grinned, his eyes sparkling and Sunghoon was surprised to hear him switch effortlessly to Korean. “Hello! My name is Jake. I’m sorry about skating into you, but you suddenly moved into where I was going and I couldn’t stop.”

Sunghoon suddenly became aware that this Jake was still on top of him and he fought back the slight heat that began rising to his cheeks. “It’s okay.” He assured, noting that he didn’t feel particularly hurt, so no harm done. “I’m Sunghoon. Are you uh… going to get off of me?”

“Huh?” Jake blinked before laughing in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck before pushing his hair away from his face, not that it did much good because it just fell back the same way. “Right, sorryyy.” He accentuated the sorry, switching back to English momentarily and then Sunghoon felt something move beneath his head and realized the soft thing his head had landed on had been one of Jake’s hands. He must’ve moved his hand beneath his head just in time to avoid Sunghoon smacking his head against the ground.

Sunghoon felt oddly touched. 

Jake pushed himself up and then held out a hand towards Sunghoon who took it, testing his left leg and ankle. There was a very slight pain down by his foot, but nothing that wouldn’t go away by the end of the day, a slight bruise, if that. 

“I’m sorry again.” Jake told him, picking up his skateboard from where it’d gotten stuck against the grass. He sounded as if he felt genuinely bad and Sunghoon wasn’t sure what he could say to assure him that he really was okay. 

“You don’t have to apologize. I should have looked at where I was going. I was just trying to find my way to a park, but my phone kept telling me to go in different directions.” He raised up his phone which he had still somehow managed to keep ahold of.

“I hate when phones do that. But if you want, to make up for running you over, I can show you to this really cool park not too far from here. It’s where I tend to go all the time. Been going since I was little.” 

Sunghoon suddenly thought back to when he was seven and almost went off with a stranger saying nearly the exact same thing. Luckily his mother had grabbed him and pulled him away just in time, scolding him for his stupidity. Would it be stupid now to go off with a stranger? Even one who seemed to be close in age to his own?

Probably. But Sunghoon also didn’t really give a shit at the moment.

He smiled instead and pushed his phone back into his pocket. “Lead the way.”

Jake dropped his skateboard back on the ground and picked up a hat that Sunghoon hadn’t noticed, sliding it on backwards atop of his head and slowly started wheeling himself, walking with one foot on the ground. Sunghoon followed, listening to Jake tell him about the street names and which places were cool to go and what streets to keep away from.

Soon they were entering through an open gate into a grassy area, trees lining the street and blocking much of the park from view. Once they got passed the few trees, Sunghoon saw that they were at the top of the hill, a few picnic tables and grills scattered about. Down at the bottom of the hill there were a few shouts and Sunghoon looked down to see a vast, open skatepark with a handful of people (both girls and boys) ranging in ages skating across the ramps.

“This is pretty cool.” He stated, following Jake down the hill and to a bench just outside the skating area. 

Jake grinned, adjusting his cap on his head. “Yeah, it’s probably my favorite place in Brisbane if I’m honest with you. Do you skate?”

The question stabbed at him and his smile faltered for a moment before he picked it back up, leaning on his hands as he sat upon the bench. “No.” He replied before giving a small clearing of his throat and nodding towards all the skaters. “At least not this kind.”

“Oh?” Jake lowered himself down onto the bench next to him, looking curious. “But you skate? What kind?” He inquired, looking innocently curious. Sunghoon couldn’t blame him for the constant prodding at a painful area; it wasn’t like he knew it was painful.

“I did figure skating since I was about eleven.” He answered finally, watching as Jake’s mouth dropped open in an ‘oh’ shape, looking impressed. Sunghoon could see that he wasn’t faking it and it did make him feel a little better.

Though many got impressed by figure skating, a lot also thought it was more of a sport for girl’s.

“Isn’t that super hard? I’ve heard it’s super hard.” Jake shook his head. “I tried skating at a rink once just for fun. I couldn’t handle even five minutes without falling over three times. I never touched the ice again. Bruised my ego a bit since I’m such a good skater on cement.”

“I don’t skate anymore.” Sunghoon replied simply, trying to keep his voice steady. He could see that Jake wanted to ask about it, but he was holding himself back, and Sunghoon appreciated that.

Jake looked off towards the ramps. “Do you want to try on my skateboard? You don’t have to go on those, I can just show you how to skate on the sidewalk here.” 

Sunghoon stared down at the skateboard, hearing his mother’s voice in his head, telling him it was a bad idea, he could get hurt and he really couldn’t risk getting hurt if he wanted any chance at skating ever again--

“Sure.” He said, pushing himself up at once from the bench. “Show me what to do?”

The other boy smiled, his braces peaking out from behind his lips and then he stood as well, grabbing his skateboard and dropping it on the sidewalk and hopping on. “So it’s a lot about balance. You said you figure skated so somehow I don’t think you’ll have too much of a hard time with that. Here, watch.”

Jake proceeded to give him an example, skating off down the sidewalk before flipping it around and skating back towards Sunghoon. “I don’t think you’re going to have a problem with this.”

Sunghoon looked at the board, imagining they were skates before stepping into it. The wheels slid just slightly and he teetered, Jake quickly grabbing his arm to help steady him. “Easy… you got it.”

“It’s been awhile.” Sunghoon explained, feeling somewhat embarrassed even though he knew there wasn’t any real reason to be. Jake just nodded and slowly stepped away from him. 

Sunghoon followed his example, pushing off of the ground and started off down the sidewalk. He found his balance easily and pressed both feet firmly into the board, enjoying the way the wind blew through his hair. If he closed his eyes, it felt so similar to ice skating.

He felt like he was flying. 

He opened his eyes when he felt the board hit a crack and quickly set his foot down on the ground, slowing himself and keeping himself from tripping. His heart pounded at the almost fall and then he got back on the board, kicking off back towards Jake.

“You okay?” Jake asked as he got back and Sunghoon stepped off, handing it back to him. “Looks like you lost control for a moment.”

“Hit a bump.” Sunghoon explained, brushing it off as nothing serious, even though his heart was still racing. “But it’s fun. I can’t do that little turn thingy you do though, not on something like this.”

“Those take some practice. Took me a while too.” Jake nodded and the both of them fell into a silence that was just a little bit awkward. Sunghoon searched for something to say and he could tell that Jake was as well.

“So--”

“Do you--” they looked at each other as they both spoke at the same time and gave a small laugh each. Sunghoon let Jake go first. “Do you want to stick around? Are you busy? I can show you some more cool places.”

Sunghoon hesitated for a moment. He did tell his mother that he was going out. He didn’t say what time he would be back and he wasn’t all that sure what Jake had in mind about showing him. But when he thought about it for a bit longer, he realized he didn’t much care. The idea of getting out and away from his thoughts sounded like something that he needed to do. 

“Sure,” he said finally. “I’d love to stick around.”

The ‘sticking around’ turned into a mini-tour of the surrounding area. Jake took him down what he said were some of his favorite streets, pointing out to him the shops he regularly stopped in at. In particular, there was a skate shop that Jake seemed to really enjoy. It sold everything from rollerblades, to skateboards, to stuff for bikes--anything with wheels. But also ice skates. Sunghoon stared at them for a moment before the two of them continued on the tour, Jake excitedly rambling on about the dog park they were about to pass and how he took his dog Leila there a lot.

“You have a dog?” Sunghoon asked and Jake practically beamed at the question, pulling his phone out of his pocket to show off a photo of a very pretty Golden Retriever.

“She’s the love of my life and the best dog ever. She’s so sweet and loyal. I’ll have to bring her next time we hang out--” Jake paused, seeming to realize what he said and then suddenly looked embarrassed. “I mean if you want to. I don’t even know how long you’re staying.”

“About a month.” Sunghoon answered as they continued to walk, their pace now a little bit slower. “We’re here to help with my aunt’s wedding. Well, my mom is here to help with her wedding. I guess we’re here for a ‘vacation’. It was a long year last year.”

“Long how?” Jake inquired, his voice curious and Sunghoon just looked down at his feet, wondering what to say.

“...I’m a bit thirsty. Anywhere to get a drink?”

“Oh,” Jake blinks and then nods with a smile. “There’s a food truck that parks just down the street. Great drinks and they have dagwood dogs to die for.”

“A what dog?”

Jake just grinned even wider and sped off down the street, coming to a stop a few meters away in front of the truck. Sunghoon quickened his steps, reaching him only a few moments later. “Two dagwood dogs and--what do you want to drink?” 

“Oh… lemonade?” Jake nodded and put in two orders for lemonade as well and then stepped aside, wheeling back and forth on his skateboard. “You’re really attached to your board.”

“It’s like another part of my body. I wish I could do it professionally, but I’m not that good.” Jake shrugged, looking like the fact didn’t bother him all that much.

“You still have time. Aren’t some of the best skaters pretty old anyway? I don’t know much about skateboarding.” Sunghoon admitted and Jake laughed. 

“Well, I don’t know much about ice skating.” Sunghoon’s face must’ve changed because Jake suddenly looked apologetic. “Sorry, it seems to be a bit of a rough subject for you?”

“It’s just--” the dagwood dogs and lemonade were ready at that moment and the two of them took them. Sunghoon noted that a dagwood dog was basically just a corndog, but it still looked delicious. 

Jake pointed Sunghoon to a spot beneath a tree and they both walked over, sitting on a bench facing the street to eat and drink. “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t like.” Jake assured, taking a bite of his food. Sunghoon watched him and felt, oddly enough, like he wanted to tell this person he had literally only met about a little over an hour previously. Something in Jake screamed that he was kind, and probably a very good friend to have.

“I got into an accident back in December of 2017.” Sunghoon sipped at his lemonade, trying to steady himself. “Just after my sixteen birthday and just after I had won gold at a competition. I was supposed to compete again a couple of weeks later. I was almost guaranteed a spot on the national team for the 2022 Olympics.”

“No way…” Jake breathed, clearly in awe and Sunghoon gave him a smile, one that was slightly sad, one that didn’t reach his eyes. 

“Yeah. But like I said. I got into an accident.” He took a bite of his dagwood dog and slowly chewed on it, suddenly not feeling all that hungry. “It was a car accident. A drunk driver hit us, me and a friend. My friend was okay, thankfully. Somehow he got away with minor injuries. The drunk driver… he died. And my leg was crushed, along with a fractured hip and neck injuries. Ruined my skating career. I haven’t touched the ice since.”

There was silence for a moment before either of them spoke. “That’s awful.” Jake looked as if he was at a loss for words, neither of them eating or drinking much. 

Sunghoon took in a breath, clearing his throat to distract himself from the sudden stinging of tears at the back of his eyes. “So this is supposed to act as a family vacation, cheer everyone up. My family’s entire lives were about my skating career. Both my sister and I are homeschooled because it was just easier to do that than have to worry about juggling classes with my training. I feel bad for my sister. I know she wants to go to normal school, but she’s stuck in this now because of me. And my mom… she doesn’t know what to do. She was my manager. Everything was about skating. My dad is just trying to keep everyone together.”

“They sound really supportive.” Jake noted and Sunghoon nodded, agreeing that they are. “So you’ve never tried skating again? To see how you can handle it?”

Sunghoon looked over at him, turning over his options on how to answer in his mind before deciding to be honest. He had said this much already, anyway. “I’m scared of not being as good.”

“But how could you know if you don’t try?” Jake asks simply and Sunghoon stares at him, unsure exactly how to reply to that question but just then, his phone rang from his pocket and he jumped, setting his drink down and pulling it out.

“It’s my mom.” He explained before quickly answering it. He sighed as she started asking him where he was and when he’d be home and that he’d been out far too long in a foreign country by himself and he should really get home  _ now _ . Sunghoon lightly agreed and then hung up, pushing his phone back into his jeans. “She wants me home. Uh…” he looks around. “I’m not entirely sure how to get back, however.”

“Do you have the address? I can take the bus with you back.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to--”

“I want to.” Jake interrupted and then smiled, showing off his braces. Sunghoon wouldn’t say it, but he kind of thought the braces were cute. 

Sunghoon pulled out the address and showed him and the two of them walked to the bus stop not too far from them and they waited. The bus was only a ten minute wait and the two of them then boarded it (Jake taking care of both of their tickets despite Sunghoon’s protestations). Jake then led the way to the empty back of the bus and they got comfortable for the twenty minute bus ride. 

“Oh!” Jake exclaimed suddenly and then turned towards him. “Uh, can I get your number? Since you’re going to be here for awhile… we can hang out again, if you like?” Jake rubbed the back of his neck and Sunghoon smiled a little, noting the pink of his cheeks. 

“I don’t mind.” Sunghoon gave him his number and Jake sent him a quick message. Sunghoon pulled out his phone again as it buzzed and saved Jake’s number.

**Jake🐕**

Jake laughed as he peered over Sunghoon’s shoulder. “A dog? I guess that suits me.” Jake grinned again and then stuck his tongue out, panting as if he was a dog. Suddenly, Jake snapped his mouth shut again and held his face in his hands. “I can’t believe I did that.”

Sunghoon laughed, his head resting back against the seat as he pointed at Jake’s cheeks. “You’re all red now.”

“Mhhh, yeah rub in the embarrassment. It’s cool.” Jake grumbled but was clearly not upset at the teasing.

The two of them fell silent, Jake texting away on his phone and Sunghoon spent the time looking out the window, watching the scenery. It was a comfortable silence, one that Sunghoon welcomed.

Soon, the bus got close to his destination and Sunghoon turned towards the other boy next to him. “Well, it was nice meeting you. Thanks for the skateboard tutoring, the lemonade, the dagwood dog, and helping me get back home.” Sunghoon told him, listing off each item.

Jake bit on his lip, a somewhat more shy smile than the grins he had been giving appearing on his face. “It’s no problem.” He assured, sliding his fingers through his hair, his hat having long been pushed into his back pocket. “I can text you, right?”

Sunghoon felt his stomach flip and thought what a strange feeling that was for a time like this. “I’d be hurt if you didn’t.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want that.” Jake said just as the bus came to a stop. Sunghoon stared at him for a moment and then nodded, clearing his throat.

“Uh, thanks again. I’ll talk to you later.” Sunghoon stated, giving his new friend a small wave goodbye and then left the bus, taking in a deep breath the moment he stepped back into the Australian summer heat.

When he turned back to look at the bus as it drove off, he could see Jake looking out the rear window, smiling at him. 

\--

Sunghoon was sprawled out on his bed, a book held above his head when his phone buzzed from next to him. He glanced over and then quickly shut the book, tossing it aside in favor of his phone instead.

  
  


**Jake🐕**

_ how’s it going? _

Read the simple notification on his phone screen. He quickly swiped and input his passcode to reply, wondering in the back of his mind why he even was so eager to reply.

_ just reading. Hbu? _

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ “watching” a movie with my family. got 2 older brothers home for break from university so im sneakily texting u. if i disappear its prob cuz i got caught. 🔪☠️ _

Sunghoon couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up from his gut and he bit down on his lip, thinking about how to reply.

_ i appreciate the dangerous situation u’ve put urself in just to text me _ _   
_ _ is there a reason ur texting me while u should be watching a movie? i don’t want to get u into actual trouble _

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ nah its cool. i dont think id ACTUALLY be killed. _ _   
_ _ probably _ _   
_ _ but i did have smth i want to ask u _

Sunghoon waited for his next reply but when he didn’t get one, he decided to message back.

_ im all ears. or eyes in this case. whats ur question? _

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ i was wondering if you wanted to hang out on thursday? i got some fam stuff i have to do tomorrow but im free thursday and _ _   
_ _ idk i just had a lot of fun hanging out w/you today _

He takes in a breath as he reads over the message. For some strange reason, the reply hits him and his hands shake just a little as his thumbs hover over his phone’s keyboard. Sunghoon slowly pushes himself up so that he’s leaning against the headboard and then slowly types his reply.

_ u dont have friends u would rather hang out with than some random person you just met for a few hrs one day? _

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ Nope _

It was a simple reply, but something about it had a small dusting of butterflies fluttering throughout Sunghoon’s stomach. He shook his head, trying to clear himself of the strange feeling. What was wrong with him?

He went to reply but before he could, Jake sent another message.

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ but its cool if u dont wanna. i dont wanna pressure u or anything _

_ No… i would love to. Just tell me where to meet u. _

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ awesome! :) how about i come by where ur staying so we can just head from there? i got some place i want to show u. its a surprise. hope youll like it. _

_ sounds good to me! ill see u thursday _

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ ill see u thursday. and prob text u tomorrow :) goodnight :) _

Sunghoon wished him goodnight as well and then stared at his phone for a moment before letting out a small giggle. He covered his mouth, blinking at himself for the uncharacteristic-ness of the moment. He shook his head and set his phone down, leaning over to shut off his bedside lamp.

He closed his eyes to sleep, but for some reason he couldn’t stop thinking about what he should wear on Thursday.

**January, 2019, Day 5**

Sunghoon sat outside on the stone porch, scrolling through instagram and twitter as he waited for Jake. He’d managed to fake being unwell enough to get his parents and sister to go to his aunt’s house on their own. They wouldn’t be back until late that evening, leaving Sunghoon free for the day. He had his spare key to the Airbnb they were staying at so that he could get back in once he was done hanging out with Sunghoon, and he should be back before his parents, his mother in particular, ever even realized that he was gone.

“Hey!” he heard a voice call to him and looked up to see Jake walking up, waving and smiling. Sunghoon smiled back and put his phone away, pushing himself up off of the porch. “Glad you managed to get out.”

“Wasn’t too hard.” He replied. He had told Jake about the sneakiness he would have to pull the night before, after his mother had sprung that day's plans on him without warning. “So where are we going.”

“Well, you’ll probably need this.” Jake held out his hand and Sunghoon looked at the cloth that he was being offered.

“A jacket?” Sunghoon asked in confusion, but took it. “It’s like 37 degrees outside and I’m almost dying.”

Jake just smiled, holding another jacket in his arm. “The place we’re going is very air conditioned.” There was something else to it, Sunghoon could somehow tell, but he let it go, figuring that he would find out eventually and the two of them started the short walk to the bus stop that Jake had just come from.

“So it’s about a fifteen minute bus ride, but I think you’ll enjoy it.” Jake told him after they had settled down, once again, at the back of the bus, away from any of the other riders. “You know, I told my parents I had made a new friend who is from Korea and they got so happy… that I have an excuse to practice my Korean because they said I was getting rusty since I’m not home as much. They all try to speak Korean as much as possible at home.”

“Well, I appreciate not having to struggle in English. I know a bit, but not nearly as good as your Korean.” The bus jolted and their arms knocked against each other sending a jolt of  _ something  _ from Sunghoon’s arm where they connected, all throughout the rest of his body.

Sunghoon tried to ignore whatever that meant, but for some reason his body was humming more and more each time their arms brushed through the ride and by the time they pulled up in front of a large building, Sunghoon had his arms wrapped tightly around himself, trying to keep himself away from touching Jake too much.

The effect touching Jake had on him was weird and Sunghoon wasn’t sure if he liked it all that much.

As they stepped off the bus, Sunghoon looked up at the name of the place curiously and then felt himself go pale.  _ Iceworld Olympics Ice Rinks. _

“Jake, why did you take me here?” He didn’t look at Jake, instead staring at the vast building in front of him, distantly hearing the giggling of kids as they and their parents headed towards the ice rink.

“Look, I know we barely know each other,” Jake started, his words coming out quickly, almost as if he were pleading with Sunghoon. Pleading with Sunghoon to not be angry. Sunghoon slowly turned to look at him. “But somehow I just feel like we were meant to meet and be friends and I’m the sort of person who isn’t going to let my friend just… give up on something they so clearly love.”

“I can’t skate anymore, Jake.” Sunghoon’s voice was stiff and he could feel the stinging at the back of his eyes. He fought it off, successfully, and let out a slow breath to try and calm himself. “I-I can’t, the accident…”

“But you haven’t tried.” Jake’s voice was gentle, patient. The other boy took in a deep breath, stepping a little closer and lowering his voice. “I looked up about the accident. What people said about it.” Sunghoon turned his eyes down towards the ground only to feel Jake’s fingers gently touch at his wrist. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. It’s not fair, especially because you had just lost something important to you. But look at you… you’re walking, you used my skateboard just fine. Even if it’s not twirling and jumping and all that, do you really want to give up ice skating?”

The stinging in his eyes moved to his throat. Sunghoon could feel a slight wetness on his lashes, but quickly swallowed the painful ache that knifed at his heart. He said nothing, and so Jake continued.

“Five minutes.” Jake told him, his voice now actually pleading. “Five minutes on the ice with me and if you can’t do it, or you don’t want to do it, we can leave and you can… I don’t know you can punch me or something for forcing this on you.”

Sunghoon laughed, a sort of watery laugh and quickly rubbed at his eyes, determined to not cry. He didn’t. “I would never punch you.” 

Jake grinned, showing off those cute braces that Sunghoon had found himself thinking about from time to time. “I really appreciate that actually. I bet you can punch pretty hard.”

“You bet I can.” Sunghoon joked and then took in a breath, looking back over at the building. “I can try for five minutes.”

“I promise it’s going to be great.” Jake told him and before Sunghoon even realized, Jake was grasping his hand and pulling him towards the entrance. A warm, tingling sensation spread up his arm from the spots that Jake was touching and he stared, curious as he tried to figure out what that meant.

But before he could figure it out, Jake let go of his hand and paid their way in, $20 each.

“I could’ve paid for my own ticket--” Jake shook his head, smiling and told him to hold out his hand. The two of them got a stamp that said  _ Thu _ and the two of them were let in. “At least let me rent the skates.” Jake looked like he was about to refuse but Sunghoon turned towards the skate rental desk and quickly rented two pairs of skates.

Jake just shook his head, but smiled as he took the skates and the two of them headed to the benches to put them on, placing their shoes into little lockers to keep safe and pulling on their jackets to keep warm from the cool air of the rink. “Okay, so I don’t know how to ice skate. At all.” Jake admitted and Sunghoon slowly turned to him. “Yeah… you’re going to have to help me out there.” Jake gave that cute, puppy like grin and Sunghoon playfully rolled his eyes.

“Fine. But you owe me.” He said and then stood, grabbing Jake’s arm to help him up. “Just go slowly.” 

“How the hell…?” Jake asked after taking a very wobbly step. Sunghoon tried not to laugh as he watched him.

“You get used to it.” Sunghoon promised and then they were by one of the entrances to the rink. He stared out at the ice, watching as families and couples and even just solo skating goers skated passed. 

Looking out at the ice, so used and unpolished from the day’s usage, Sunghoon could feel himself fading somewhere, echoes of cheers and applause surrounding him, his name being called as the winner of gold…

“Sunghoon?” Jake said lightly from next to him and Sunghoon snapped out of his little daydream, looking over at his friend. “You okay?”

He cleared his throat and nodded, pushing a smile onto his face. “Yeah. I’ll go first and then help you out.”

Sunghoon’s first step onto the ice was slow, but the moment he did, he felt the air change, and his breathing somehow got lighter. It was as if all his worry had floated away and he let out a small breathy laugh.

He felt as if he had just come home for the first time in a long time.

“Here.” He said, extending his hand and Jake grasped it with his. Sunghoon noted the warmth and tingling that once more started up as their fingers interlocked just slightly. Jake shakily stepped out onto the ice, one hand grasping Sunghoon, the other holding onto the railing for dear life. “You just need to relax. Find your balance… like that.”

It took Jake a moment but he eventually did find his balance. It was the skateboarder in him. Sunghoon knew he would be just fine. 

“I’ll keep ahold of you at first, but you want to move like this, okay?” Sunghoon gave him a quick example, one foot moving in front of the other. It felt so natural, that Sunghoon wondered why he had ever been worried in the first place. He came back to Jake and grabbed his hand once more. “Now you do it with me.”

“The blades are so thin--nothing like a skateboard.” Jake whined a little, but he nodded and steeled himself, slowly following Sunghoon’s example. Sunghoon smiled, keeping steady hold of him until he was sure Jake would be okay, and then gently let go of his hand.

“See?” Sunghoon stated excitedly when Jake continued on for at least a good thirty seconds without falling over. “It’s not that hard, is it?”

“I guess not…” Jake’s voice was a little bit more unsure, but the longer he went without falling over, the more confident he seemed to grow. “Yeah, yeah it’s really not that bad. It’s pretty fun.” 

“It’s very fun.” Sunghoon smiled, skating on ahead just a little to do a small turn. Nothing extravagant, but the way the world spun when he did filled him with joy and he stopped directly in front of Jake, breathing a little heavier, adrenaline rushing through him. “You were right.”

“Of course I was.” Jake smiled and Sunghoon smiled back, their eyes locking and Sunghoon felt a spark, so similar to the tingles that zapped across him whenever they touched. The spark shot down his back and felt like it was playing ping pong with his nerve-endings. 

Sunghoon felt someone smack against him from behind and heard a yell of ‘sorry!’ before he went tumbling forward towards Jake. He only got a glimpse of Jake’s surprised expression before he fell into him, sending them both falling onto the ground, Sunghoon landing directly on top of Jake in an almost replay of just days previously.

Jake grunted a little as he fell, but it looked as if he managed to keep his head from hitting the ice. Sunghoon panted, his heart racing as he looked down at his friend. “Are you okay?” He asked quickly, trying to make sure that he wasn’t hurt.

“Yeah, I’m fine… might have a bruise in the morning though.” Jake groaned and then turned his head, looking up at Sunghoon. Sunghoon felt his breath catch in his throat as Jake’s puppy brown eyes locked onto his. The cold of the ice against his hands didn’t bother him so much in this instance, but the sudden queasy feeling in his stomach did. 

“Ah, Sunghoon…” Jake started slowly, suddenly looking a little bit far away himself. “Are you going to… get up?” 

“Huh?” Sunghoon blinked, realizing that he was still on top of Jake and then he flushed, his neck and face warming. “S-sorry.” He stuttered out, pushing himself up and holding a hand out to Jake to help him up.”

“S’okay. But we need to stop meeting like this.” Jake laughed a little, dusting the ice off of his pants. 

“Ah-ha, yeah, we really need to.” Sunghoon cleared his throat and then shot his friend a smile. “Let’s see how fast you can catch up to me.” And before Jake could say otherwise, Sunghoon sped off around the rink, trying to calm the rapid beating of his heart. He could feel it pounding against his ribcage and hear it ring through his ears. 

He needed to calm down. He needed to stop feeling whatever that was when he was around Jake.

Somehow he thought that would be easier said than done.

\--

A few hours later, the two of them sat in the back booth of a nearby pizza parlor. Artisan pizza and pasta covered their table, as well as half drank cups of coke. Sunghoon was amazed at just how much Jake made him laugh, to the point that Sunghoon had never felt his cheeks hurt more than they did in this moment. 

They went back and forth, trading stories. Jake told Sunghoon all about his crazy friends and the antics they got up to, though Jake swore that he himself was a good boy and would never go along with any of it. Sunghoon called bullshit on that and Jake burst into laughter, nodding and saying maybe he did go along with it just a bit.

Sunghoon in turn told him about his best friend Jay from back home in Korea and how one time they had gone to a haunted house together and Jay had run out screaming his head off, but the moment he got outside had tried to act as if it had been no big deal and he was just messing around. Sunghoon made sure to note that Jay had always been too ‘busy’ to go to another haunted house after that.

Jake snorted so hard that coke almost came out of his nose at one of Sunghoon’s joke causing Sunghoon to absolutely lose it himself and drop some pasta on his pants. Their little corner of the parlor was brimming with laughter and jokes and smiles and Sunghoon really didn’t know the last time that he had been so happy. 

After most of their pizza and pasta was eaten and their joking had calmed down a bit, the two of them spoke quietly, barely noticing that the sun was beginning to set in the distance. 

“Are you busy tomorrow?” Jake asked, leaning on his hand as he looked across the table at Sunghoon.

Sunghoon picked up a napkin, wiping his mouth as he swallowed his last bite of pizza. “Unfortunately, yes. I have to go try on my tux for the wedding.”

Jake hummed, nodding slowly. “How about Saturday then?”

“Are you that desperate to hang out with me?” Sunghoon teased, taking great pleasure in the way Jake turned pink, automatically trying to deny the accusation.

“No just… there’s this thing called The Wheel of Brisbane. It’s like a giant ferris wheel. Well, it  _ is  _ a giant ferris wheel.” Jake explained. “And it’s something you definitely need to go on before you leave Australia.”

“And you want to take me on it?” Sunghoon asked, raising his eyebrows, thinking that it was such a strange thing for a new male friend to want to take another male friend onto.

Jake stared at him, his eyes wide and suddenly looking slightly hesitant. “Y-yes? You don’t want to?”

Sunghoon breathed out slowly, looking at the table. He didn’t know why he was hesitating on saying yes. Something felt strange inside of him. His stomach was in knots and his breaths were a little bit shorter than usual. He wasn’t sure if this was a good or a bad thing.

He looked back up to Jake. “I want to.” A slow smile suddenly spread across Jake’s face as he nodded. They looked at each other for a moment and then both quickly reached for the bill. After agreeing to split it, they both headed out on their way to the bus stop, so that Sunghoon could get home before his family.

Sunghoon wasn’t entirely sure why, but for some reason he was really looking forward to Saturday.

**January, 2019, Day 7**

“Why can’t I go?” Gaeun pouted as she sat on his bed. Sunghoon stood in front of the closet mirror, holding up two shirts in front of him. Eventually he tossed both aside and dived back into the closet.

“Because,” Sunghoon said patiently, even though he had already answered this about a dozen times since the day before. “The other girls are coming over for a sleepover and you need to be here for that.” He stepped back out, holding out another shirt in front of him. “What do you think?”

“I like the blue one better.” Gaeun pointed at the one he had discarded on the ground.

“Blue…” he murmured, staring down at it.

“Anyway, I didn’t even want to have this stupid sleepover. Mom is making me. I’d much rather go on the ferris wheel with you.”

“Well, you can’t.” Sunghoon told her simply, putting back his discarded clothes and choosing the blue one that Gaeun had said was best. “Not this time at least. How about I take you another time? Next time? Before we leave, okay?”

Gaeun stared at him, her eyes suspicious. “You’re not just saying that to get rid of me are you? You’re not going to go back on your word?”

“Have I ever done that?” He asked rhetorically, knowing that he never had. As he thought, she shook her head slowly. “I’ll take you, okay? But this time… I’m going with my friend.” He cleared his throat, tossing the shirt on the bed. Jeans next.

“Right, your  _ friend _ .” 

Sunghoon gave her an odd look over his shoulder. “Why do you say ‘friend’, like that?”

Gaeun crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him smugly. “No reason, just… I sort of looked at your phone.”

“Gaeun!” Sunghoon scolded, dropping the jeans and turning to look at her. “That’s an invasion of privacy! How did you even get into my phone?”

“Oh please. I’ve known the passcode since I was eight.” She rolled her eyes. “You should really change that from time to time.”

“Yeah, well, now I’m going to.” He shook his head and turned back to the mirror. “Dark or light?” He asked her, holding up two different pairs of jeans.

“Definitely dark.” 

Sunghoon nodded to himself and tossed the jeans onto the bed with his shirt. “Anyway, what do you mean you looked at my phone? What does that have to do with you saying that word all weirdly?”

“Nobody gives a friend  _ that  _ many smiley faces.” Gaeun told him, looking very serious. 

He laughed a little, looking at her a bit flabbergasted. “Sure they do. Jake does. He’s just friendly.”

“ _ Friendlyyy… _ ” She sniggered and Sunghoon reached forward, lightly smacking the back of her head. “Ow,”

“Please, that didn’t even hurt.” He shook his head, looking down at his closes as he chewed on his lip and then back up at his little sister. “But what do you mean?”

Gaeun rolled her eyes and let out a large, over exasperated sigh. “Please, it’s so clear he has a crush on you!”

“ _ Gaeun _ !” Sunghoon hissed, looking over towards his bedroom door that was cracked up before turning back to his sister. “You can’t say things like that, what if mom and dad hear you? And he does not have a crush on me. He’s a  _ he _ .”

It was her turn to look at him in confusion. “So?”

Sunghoon blinked, taken aback by her lack of caring. 

“Sunghoon oppa,” Gaeun sighed, patting the mattress next to her. He slowly sat down beside his sister, moving the clothes out of the way so that he didn’t wrinkle them. She then turned towards him with a serious expression on her face. “I’m twelve. Not stupid. I’ve read fanfic.”

Sunghoon was at a loss of words. “What kind of fanfic are you reading?”

Gaeun got a small little smile on her face that almost unnerved Sunghoon. “You know… BTS fanfic. I like sope.” Sunghoon had no idea what ‘sope’ meant in BTS terms, but he was pretty sure he also did not want to know.

“Whatever… fanfic you read, it’s just fiction, Gaeun.” Sunghoon assured her before gently pulling on her arm, leading her towards the door.

She hummed, as if to placate him. “Okay, if you say so, but that Jake definitely has a crush on you.” Sunghoon rolled his eyes and pushed her out the door.

“Goodbye, Gaeun.” She smiled and he closed the door in her face with a sigh before returning to his outfit on the bed and picked it up.

He held up the shirt and jeans in front of him in the mirror and smiled. “She is right though… blue and dark do look best.”

The weather, though still incredibly warm, was a little bit more bearable at 8pm just as the sun was beginning to set over the horizon. There was a slight breeze that offered some respite from the otherwise dry heat as Sunghoon stood outside the Airbnb, waiting for Jake to pull up in what was apparently a car borrowed from his mother.

Sunghoon kept going over what Gaeun had been saying in his head as he stood outside, picking at his fingernails. What had she meant, Jake had a crush on him? That was just impossible. Nothing Jake had done had given Sunghoon any hint that he was that way or that he would like him.

Not that Sunghoon had a problem with Jake being  _ that way _ . Because he didn’t. At least that’s what he told himself, but he wondered why his stomach felt slightly uneasy at the thought, as if he was on a ship and getting seasick. 

He shook his head, ridding himself of the thought. When he thought of Jay being that way, he didn’t feel the same queasy feeling as when he thought about the possibility for Jake. It just made no sense. And it didn’t matter because he was sure that Jake wasn’t that way. 

Sunghoon decided to ignore the slight disappointment he felt with that final thought, because that just didn’t make sense.

A car pulled up in front of him and Sunghoon looked up to see Jake roll down the window and smile out at him. Sunghoon felt something flutter in his chest and quickly went around to get in on the passenger side. 

“Hey,” he breathed out, shooting Jake another smile as he buckled in.

“Hi.” Jake replied, his eyes slowly raking over Sunghoon’s outfit before darting back up to his face. “You look nice. Uh--good. Your clothes are cool.”

Sunghoon let out a small, nervous laugh, Gaeun’s words once again playing on repeat in his head. “So do you.” Jake beamed at him and nodded before pulling away from the curb and off down the street. 

Something felt strange through the car ride, almost as if the air was thicker than usual. Mid-way through, Sunghoon reached forward, turning up the air before leaning back into his seat.

“You warm?” Jake asked, glancing over at him.

“Just a little.” Sunghoon told him, although the air conditioner didn’t seem to be cooling him off all that much.

“Yeah, guess it’s a lot warmer in Australia than it is in Korea, huh?” Jake glanced in his rearview mirror before changing lanes. 

“Especially in January.” Sunghoon laughed, turning to look out the window. “It was so weird going from winter snow in Seoul to the heat of an Australian summer.” 

“I guess that would be weird. Almost as if time traveling huh? Winter in one part of the world, summer in the other. And it’s not like our winters get particularly cold either.” Sunghoon hummed his agreement and then Jake turned up the radio, singing along to the song that was playing.

Sunghoon watched him, listening intently with a small smile on his face. “You have a really nice voice.” He commented, watching as Jake’s cheeks painted pink as he pulled into a parking spot nearby the wheel that Sunghoon could see in the distance. 

“My family has said that, but I’ve only ever sung in the shower or karaoke night with my friends.” The two of them exited the car.

“I’m the same way. People have said I have a nice voice, but I never really tried all that much. Wow… that wheel really is huge.” Sunghoon stated as they walked up on the wheel, craning his neck to see the top of it as the sun finished setting in the sky.

“Yes it is, and it also closes in about thirty minutes, so we should get going.” Jake sent him a smile that sent that familiar fluttering through Sunghoon’s chest. Sunghoon silently cursed himself for letting Gaeun’s words affect him in this way.

“Two--I’m getting these since you got the ice skates. We take turns.” Jake grinned at him, raising his eyebrows in a way that shot heat straight from his ears down the back of his spine. 

“Guess I’m buying us a late dinner then.” He cleared his throat, taking his ticket and following Jake up to the entrance. There were a few people in front of them, but none coming up behind them.

“It’s a deal.”

A few moments later, they were let into their gondola. Sunghoon noted that it sat eight people but he was thankful when the door closed behind him and they weren’t forced to be near strangers. Sunghoon wanted to experience this with Jake alone. 

Though he could easily sit across from Jake if he wanted to, Sunghoon sat next to him instead, their elbows brushing as he leaned back. Jake didn’t move away at the touch and so neither did Sunghoon. As soon as the wheel began to slowly move, a voice came on overhead, speaking to the passengers.

“Almost like a tour guide.” Sunghoon notes and Jake gave a small laugh. “It’s too bad I don’t understand most of what’s being said.” 

“It’s telling you about the history and then as we get higher it’s going to start telling you about the sights of Brisbane that you’re going to see.” Jake told him. “Nothing that I can’t tell you about if you’re curious.”

Their knees knocked lightly against each other as the gondola moved higher and Sunghoon glanced down briefly before looking back up at his friend. “I’d rather you show me Brisbane than tell me about it.”

Jake stared, their eyes locking and Sunghoon felt a warmth spread through his stomach as their arms continuously brushed due to the movement of the gondola. “I can do that.” Jake said finally, turning his head to look out the window. Sunghoon followed suit, taking in a small gasp to see that they were now just above the trees, the beginnings of the city lights sprawling out into a vast ocean of blinking colors appearing before him.

“It’s so pretty…” Sunghoon murmured, his eyes drinking in the sights. He’d seen city lights from above before. Usually from an airplane, but something about this felt so much different and he was in so much awe that he barely registered the voice of the ‘guide’ fading away to silence. 

“Here, I can show you where my house is.” Sunghoon felt a hand on his waist as Jake slid down the bench, closer to the right until he was right up against the window and Sunghoon was right up against him. Jake’s hand burned over his shirt and Sunghoon could feel himself fall a little breathless. “See that little neighborhood by all the trees? My house is right in there.”

Jake turned his head just as the gondola stopped at the peak of its height. “Oh…” he breathed out and Sunghoon felt his breath fan across his face at their closeness. 

Sunghoon’s heart raced in his chest and he gripped tightly at the knee of his jeans, trying to calm himself, trying to get his palms to stop sweating, but Jake was so close and his eyes kept going back and forth between Sunghoon’s eyes and his lips. The twinkling lights from out the gondola window created an almost ethereal backdrop and maybe Sunghoon just got caught in the moment, because in the next second, he was leaning forward, capturing Jake’s lips into a kiss.

The hand that was still on Sunghoon’s waist clenched and unclenched, as if unsure of what to do before it finally decided to relax and Sunghoon could feel Jake’s lips moving against his. The fact of that sent a shock shooting up Sunghoon’s spine, as if it were a firework rising into the sky on New Year’s.

And then the gondola began moving and the two of them pulled back at the same exact time. Sunghoon felt breathless and dizzy and when he glanced at Jake, his eyes were wide and confused. Slowly the hand on his waist fell to the bench beneath them and Sunghoon cleared his throat, turning to face straight ahead so that he wouldn’t have to look at Jake, so that he could get his heart to calm down and his breathing under control.

The lights slowly began to disappear behind the trees again as they lowered to the ground, neither of them saying a word about what had just happened. Sunghoon wasn’t really sure  _ what  _ had just happened. 

Had Gaeun’s words seeped into his brain and affected him that much? To the point that he had… kissed Jake?

Sunghoon licked over his lips and then stole a quick glance at the teenage boy sitting next to him, seeing him staring out the window with a faraway look. Sunghoon quickly looked away, his heart pounding once again and his stomach tying itself into knots.

No. These feelings he was experiencing weren't just because of what Gaeun had said. This was all him. 

Did he have a crush on Jake?

The gondola lowered completely and in the next moment, the door opened to let them out. Sunghoon took in a deep breath and looked at Jake who didn’t seem to realize. “Jake, we get off now.”

“Huh?” Jake looked over, blinking. “Oh, right.” Jake quickly got up, brushing passed him to get off the gondola. Sunghoon stared at his back for a moment before following him off, unable to help but to feel slightly hurt as they began walking, Jake not saying another word, appearing deep in thought.

Jake was ignoring him. Did Sunghoon ruin their friendship with that kiss?

Had he really just kissed Jake in a gondola high above the city of Brisbane, Australia as bright, twinkling lights danced in the background as if they were in some huge Hollywood romantic movie?

“There’s some good restaurants this way.” Jake said eventually as they walked in the opposite direction of the car, down a mostly empty street, especially for the Saturday evening that it was. Sunghoon figured everyone already must be where they needed to go, and he silently followed Jake a few steps behind him, suddenly not feeling all that hungry.

The silence was awkward, not like all of their other silences and Sunghoon could feel that Jake was holding something back, but Sunghoon was scared to speak up, to ask, to bring up what just happened. So he didn’t. He opted to walk behind, his arms crossed over his stomach as he tried to feel the queasy feeling making its way through him. He could now feel the difference.

The queasiness from before had been the nervous excitement someone felt around the person they liked. This queasiness was what a person felt after realizing they had just screwed everything up.

It was uncharacteristic of him, but Sunghoon almost felt like he wanted to go home and cry. 

Before he even realized it, Sunghoon bumped into Jake who had randomly stopped in his walking. Sunghoon quickly apologized and stepped away as Jake slowly turned, looking at him with a slightly hesitant expression. 

“I’m not gay, you know.” Jake said, his voice soft, almost purposefully soft as if he was trying to assure Sunghoon that he wasn’t angry or upset.

“I’m not either.” Sunghoon told him quickly. “I think…” he added on as an afterthought, because he actually really wasn’t sure at the moment.

“But you kissed me?” Jake said it more of a question to him, looking slightly puzzled. Sunghoon was puzzled himself, unsure of anything going on at the moment. 

“I did.” He replied before pointing directly at Jake. “You kissed me back though.” The memory sparked in the back of his mind; Jake’s lips moving against his. Jake had definitely kissed him back.

Jake pointed at himself. “I did…” He then scratched at the back of his neck and turned, starting to walk again as he stared at the sidewalk in front of him. Sunghoon followed, not taking his eyes off of Jake, but this time kept up with him. 

Until he stopped again and Sunghoon halted next to him. Jake stared at the ground for a moment longer before turning to look at him, his eyes scanning all over his face, looking as if he was about to speak.

But then there were lips on Sunghoon’s and the figure skater gasped, his stomach swooping. Fingers slid against his face, causing a ticklish sensation across his skin. Sunghoon was at a loss for what to do, but slowly he relaxed into the kiss, the sound of his own heart pounding in his head. He lifted his arms, wrapping them around Jake’s neck as he stepped into the kiss.

Sunghoon tilted his head, feeling the kiss deepen. Soft, gentle movements of lips as the two of them tried to figure out the best way to move their mouths or their heads. His stomach fluttered with a thousand butterflies as he trailed his fingers up into Jake’s soft hair. He could feel Jake’s thumb stroke over his ear before clutching the back of his head, pulling him closer. 

“Ow--” Sunghoon pulled back, touching his lip that had gotten snagged on one of Jake’s braces as he panted, trying to catch his breath. Jake was also panting, his lips wet and slightly swollen and Sunghoon was pretty sure that his looked the same way.

“Sorry,” Jake apologized quickly before he cleared his throat and stepped away, his face flushed with heat and Sunghoon was certain it wasn’t the warm night air. “I don’t know why I did that.” Jake looked genuinely confused as he scratched at his chin. 

“Maybe…” Sunghoon pulled his finger away from his lip, thankful he didn’t seem to be bleeding. “Maybe because of the same reason I did?” Sunghoon and Jake locked eyes and Sunghoon could feel something pass between them. A mutual understanding of what each other was feeling, perhaps.

“Maybe…” Jake murmured, his eyes locked on Sunghoon’s lips which caused him to blush just a little.

“I don’t know what this means.” Sunghoon admitted, starting off down the street once more, even though he had no idea where he was going. 

“Neither do I.” Jake replied and the two of them walked side-by-side, their shoulders and hands brushing. Sunghoon felt pleased when Jake didn’t pull away from the touching. “Let’s eat here. It’s really good.” Jake stated, stopping in front of a small diner whose doors were wide open, the sounds of laughter from the patrons flowing out into the street.

Sunghoon nodded and followed him inside. It only took a moment for the two of them to be seated at a table in the busy diner. Sunghoon peered down at the menu, trying to concentrate on what he wanted to eat, but found it basically impossible.

A foot knocked against his beneath the table and he quickly glanced up to see a blushing Jake. “Sorry.” The boy stated in English, his accent apparent and causing Sunghoon’s stomach to do a somersault inside of him. 

“I think I’ll just get a cheeseburger.” Sunghoon stated finally because that was really the only thing he could order without looking at the actual menu. Jake nodded and said he’d get the same thing and Sunghoon had the feeling they were both having the same issue.

Once the waitress had taken their order and left their drinks, Sunghoon pulled his coke to him, sipping at the straw to pretend as if the silence had more of a purpose than either of them just being too nervous to speak. 

“I guess when you get down to it,” Jake began suddenly and Sunghoon looked up at him from his drink. Jake rested his arms on the table, looking thoughtful as he spoke. “I like you.”

Sunghoon coughed as his soda shot down his windpipe and he choked at the sudden confession. He pulled away from his drink, grabbing his napkin to cough into, eyes stinging a bit from the feel of the carbonation down the wrong shoot.

“Are you okay?” Jake asked, reaching across the table to pat his back. Sunghoon waved his hand, trying to silently let him know he was okay.

“Swallowed wrong.” He cleared his throat and took in a breath as Jake’s hand slowly fell from his back. “You were saying?”

“Uh,” Jake gave a nervous laugh and leaned back into his chair, his hands clutching at the table in front of him. “I guess I was saying that… I think I like you… as more than just how a friend should like a friend.”

Sunghoon let out a slow breath, trying to calm himself.

He failed.

“I definitely like you as more than just how a friend should like a friend.” He admitted before quickly grabbing his drink for another sip, trying to busy himself. 

“Then…” Jake glanced around and leaned forward just a little. Sunghoon felt his breath catch at the sight of his brown, puppy-like eyes wide with an innocence and kindness to them that he had never seen in another person before. “Is this a date?”

He tried to control the excitement in his voice, steading himself as he slid his fork back and forth against the napkin it lay on. “If you want it to be a date.”

“I think I want it to be a date.” Jake told him and he felt his foot lightly knock into his again beneath the table. This time, Jake didn’t apologize for it. 

Sunghoon bit down on his lip to slow down the spread of a smile that twitched at the corners of his lips. “I think I want it to be a date too.”

Jake suddenly broke down into a smile, laughing, his voice ringing like clear bells that tolled for something important--a wedding, perhaps. Sunghoon shook that thought out of his head and smiled back, the two of them relaxing as the waitress brought out their burgers, setting them down on the table in front of him. 

A date. They were actually on a date, and Sunghoon felt like he couldn’t be happier.

\--

It was nearing midnight when Sunghoon finally walked into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him and leaning back against the wood. He didn’t bother turning on the light, the darkness and silence a welcome change from the lights of the city and the music of Jake’s car radio. Now he could be alone with his thoughts, trying to figure out everything that had just transpired the last few hours. 

Sunghoon ran his tongue lightly over his lips before lifting his hand to cover his mouth. His stomach fluttered as he remembered moments before in Jake’s car when the other boy had leaned over, pressing a kiss to his lips in goodnight. 

Music played lightly on the radio, some slow romantic song that Sunghoon didn’t know the name of and when Jake pulled back, Sunghoon leaned forward, continuing the kiss. Jake didn’t object, his arm coming up around his shoulders to pull him closer. 

The kiss was slow and languid as they got used to it, careful of Jake’s braces. His mouth tasted like soda and cheeseburgers but Sunghoon didn’t really mind, knowing that his probably tasted the exact same way. Every time one would pull away, the other would lean in, capturing the other’s lips for another kiss that would start off an entirely new session until Sunghoon was sure that he had tasted practically every corner of Jake’s mouth by the time they actually stopped kissing.

Once they had decided they really needed to stop (it was late and Sunghoon needed to get inside before his mother came out and saw what was going on), Sunghoon had pulled down the mirror to look at himself. He laughed lightly, embarrassed at the sight of his swollen lips and mussed hair. He quickly fixed himself and turned to Jake to say goodnight.

“I need to go in.” He murmured, the urge to lean in for another goodnight kiss strong and difficult to fight. 

“Goodnight.” Jake told him, biting down on his own lip, hand clenching around the steering wheel. He also looked to be having a difficult time not leaning in. Sunghoon looked at him for a moment then let out a shy laugh, saying goodnight for possibly the fifth time while being in the car, and finally managed to pull himself out and back inside the house.

Which now left him leaning against his temporary bedroom door, his stomach fluttering and twisting and jumping, even more than it ever had right before the big skating competitions. 

He pushed off his door and began undressing. He needed to shower, but couldn’t find it in himself to want to do it. Sunghoon decided he would shower in the morning and he slowly pulled on his pajamas before falling into his mattress. 

A few minutes later as he slowly began falling asleep, his phone buzzed. Sunghoon grasped at it, smiling when he saw whom the message was from.

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ i wanted to wish u a goodnight _ _   
_ _ and tell u i hope u have a lot of very sweet dreams :) _

_ i hope u have a goodnight too jake… sleep well! <3 _

He sent the message before he could think better of it, hoping that the heart wasn’t too much. And then Sunghoon laughed, realizing he didn’t even care if it was too much and he pulled the blankets up over his head, and went to sleep. 

**January, 2019, Day 9 - 13**

“And this must be Leila.” Sunghoon beamed as he kneeled down to pet the pretty golden retriever wagging her tell excitedly at him. The dog yipped and licked his hand, causing Sunghoon to laugh and start rubbing her side with his other hand. “Hello, thank you. Wow, she’s so friendly.”

“Only around good people.” Jake assured as he loosely hung onto her leash. Sunghoon glanced up at him as he continued to pet the dog, noticing how his free hand was pushed deep into his pocket and his hair was once again hidden by a cap that he wore backwards. “Hey,” Jake greeted in delay with a smile and Sunghoon felt his stomach flip.

“Hey,” he greeted back and then stood, the dog still licking at the tips of his fingers. “Shall we get going?”

“Yeah, there’s a dog park only a few blocks away, so I was thinking we could just walk there? Unless the heat is bothering you too much.” Jake said quickly, clucking his tongue at Leila and they started off down the street.

“Walking is fine. I’m actually starting to get used to it, if you can believe that.” Sunghoon smiled as he watched the dog look around her surroundings excitedly, tongue lolling out of her mouth as she trotted on as far as the leash would let her, sniffing at bugs and trees.

“I’m glad you could come with me. I really wanted you to meet Leila.” Jake told him, looking fondly at his pet.

“I think my mom is getting slightly annoyed that I’m going off every other day instead of being with family, but…” Sunghoon shrugged. “I don’t care. This is supposed to be a vacation and I want to do what’s fun for me.”

“So hanging out with me is fun for you?” Jake smiled and Sunghoon knew he already knew the answer to the question, but Sunghoon decided to go along with it.

“Among other things.” He replied innocently, taking pleasure in the slight pink coloring that overtook Jake’s necks.

It had been over a day since the Wheel of Brisbane, their dinner date, and busy make-out sessions on the streets and in Jake’s car. They had spent yesterday texting non-stop to the point both of them had gotten into trouble for being on their phones all day. But the moment that their family’s backs were turned, they were right back to texting each other, talking about nonsense things that didn’t really matter all that much, but were fun to talk about.

Sunghoon wanted nothing more than to greet Jake with a kiss, though he knew he couldn’t. Though they were away from the house and Sunghoon was fairly sure that nobody he knew would see them, he couldn’t say the same about Jake and wasn’t about to take that risk when he didn’t know how Jake felt about it. 

He could be patient. Probably.

Soon enough, they had arrived at the dog park and the moment they were through the gates, Jake let Leila off the leash who went running after a rogue baseball, barking happily as she started playing with all the other dogs.

“She’s so cute.” Sunghoon told him, smiling as he watched. Jake beamed from next to him, as if he was personally responsible for how cute she is. 

“She’s the best dog in the entire world. There is no other dog like her.” Jake firmly stated and the two of them walked over to an empty picnic table beneath a tree. It was a monday and rather early in the day, most people were at work, but a few spotted the park here and there.

Sunghoon was thankful for this, as it meant that he and Jake could be mostly alone. They sat at the bench next to each other, their arms and legs as close as they could be, hip to hip, shoulder to shoulder, and Sunghoon felt warm because of it, though it was a different sort of warm than the warmth offered by the sun. This one originated from deep inside and worked its way out.

He felt lips press against his cheeks and he blinked, turning his head in surprise to see Jake looking anywhere but at him, a small smile on his lips, and a blush to his cheeks. 

“I think you missed.” Sunghoon told him, taking pleasure when Jake looked at him in shock. But then the shock melted away and Jake’s eyes flickered down to Sunghoon’s lips and before Sunghoon could say anything else, their lips were flickering together and all Sunghoon saw as his eyes fell shut was Jake’s lashes brushing against his cheeks. Birds twittered about from all around them and Sunghoon leaned into the kiss for a moment before Jake pulled away, clearing his throat and glancing around to make sure no one saw them.

“Did I miss that time?” He asked, a small grin on his face and Sunghoon quickly shook his head, trying to calm himself.

“No, I don’t think you missed that time.” He breathed out and then the two of them laughed, taking turns to shyly glance at one another. “I don’t know what I expected by coming to Australia, but getting run over by a skateboarder who wears his hats backwards and then kissed within an inch of my life barely a week later by that same skateboarder isn’t exactly what I thought would happen.”

“What’s wrong with wearing my hats like this?” Jake whined, pouting out his lips which in turn just made Sunghoon want to kiss them again.

“Nothing,” Sunghoon assured. “If you’re an Australian skateboarder, I guess. Though it is a bit… 2008?” He tilted his head, looking him over.

“I was six--mostly five, in 2008.”

“So was I.” They both laughed again just as Leila came bounding over, a ball held in her mouth until she set it down in Sunghoon’s lap. “You want me to throw it?” She barked, almost as if understanding what Sunghoon had asked, and maybe she did. He took the ball, pulled his arm back and then threw it, watching as she ran off to catch it.

“We should probably talk more about this, huh?” Jake asked, their shoulders bumping as Leila ran back, dropping the ball into his lap this time. Jake threw it for her. 

“I guess we should.” Sunghoon agreed, knowing that they had to eventually. “I don’t really know what it means.”

“Me neither.” Both of them fell into silence for a moment. “I know you’re only here for a few more weeks though, and then you’ll be going back to Korea.” Sunghoon felt his heart fall into his stomach.

Oh. Right. He had kind of forgotten about that.

“And you’ll be here in Australia.” Jake hummed, nodding at Sunghoon’s statement, neither of them really knowing how to continue this. 

“What if we just… see what happens and then we make a decision about what to do when the time comes?” Jake asked, turning his head towards him. “I mean, I don’t want to ruin the last few weeks we have to spend together just because we’re scared of what has to happen when you go back home.”

“I don’t want that either.” And Sunghoon really didn’t. The idea of an eventual expiration date on this incredibly new relationship he was building practically made him want to throw up. He wanted to not care about something like that and just experience these new feelings in all their glory. 

“Sooo…” Jake trailed, leaning forward onto his hands. “Do you want to go to the movies with me tomorrow?”

Sunghoon turned to look at him. “Are you asking me on a date?”

“I’m asking you on a date.” Jake confirmed with a smile. “Movies, darkened theater, sharing a popcorn bucket…”

“You had me at darkened theater.” Sunghoon laughed, knocking his foot against Jake’s who knocked his back until soon all they were doing was kicking each other’s foot, their legs rubbing as they did. 

The days moved all too quickly for Sunghoon. He wanted nothing more than for time to slow down, to be able to hold onto these few weeks for absolutely as long as he possibly could. Yet, time did move and each day he could feel his heart feeling a little bit heavier. Until he was on the phone with Jake. Or face to face with Jake. Or spending a good ten minutes in Jake’s mom’s car (that he had taken to borrowing most days) just making out before Sunghoon would pull himself to go inside.

It was getting more and more difficult to peel himself away from the Aussie. 

He was definitely in a brighter mood, despite the impending end of the vacation, and this was something his entire family seemed to notice as he went throughout his day. Sunghoon could feel the suspicious eyes of his mother and the knowing smirk of his little sister (his father seemed to remain clueless for the most part), but he paid them no mind, grabbing a quick piece of fruit before running out of the house to go meet up with Jake.

His mother always yelled after him that he needed to stop running off so much, but he just waved her off. He wanted to be around Jake, not stuck at his aunt’s house helping with wedding plans. They didn’t need him anyway.

The end of Sunghoon’s second week in Australia came before he even knew it, and soon it was friday and he was sliding into Jake’s mom’s car, fighting the urge to lean over to kiss him because he could see his own mother peeking out the window. 

“I got my bathing suit like you asked.” Sunghoon buckled in his belt as Jake pulled back out. “I’m still a bit nervous.”

“You’re going to be fine. I promise. They’re all very nice.” Jake told him, shooting him a quick smile before concentrating back on the road.

“It’s still your family.” Sunghoon said with a small groan, leaning back into the seat. Jake had asked him the day before if he wanted to come to a family barbeque and meet his parents and brother’s. 

_ Just as a friend,  _ Jake had quickly assured. 

“And they love all my friends and considering you’re the coolest friend I have, they’re definitely going to love you. I mean I do.” It got quiet in the car and then Jake started stuttering. “I mean like you. Like you a lot. Like really like you--yeah, let’s listen to some music?” Jake quickly adjusted the radio, turning it up.

_ Thud _ . 

Sunghoon was pretty sure that was the sound of his heart smacking against his ribcage. 

“And they know I’m coming?” He asked after a few minutes of nothing but the radio.

“Yeah, of course. They’re super excited.” Jake assured and Sunghoon let out a slow breath, trying to calm himself down. He just had to trust Jake on this. And besides, he was right, they were just meeting him as a friend. That was way different than a--

Boyfriend. 

Soon, Jake pulled up to a house blocked off by what looked to be a wood paneled gate. He picked up a remote from the middle dash and pressed a button, the gate slowly swinging open followed by the garage door. Jake pulled in, parked and then turned to look at him with a comforting smile.

“You ready?”

Sunghoon breathed out slowly and then nodded. “I’m ready.”

They entered into the house through the garage door and were greeted with bright white walls, clean and sleek. Sunghoon would’ve thought walls like this would look cold and uninviting, but they were lined with dozens of pictures down the hall, pictures of babies and boys growing up. Family pictures taken in every season. 

He could hear the sound of laughter coming from somewhere else in the house and felt that same fluttery feeling he usually did around Jake, but this time it was because he would be meeting his family. 

Then he heard the sound of paws on the hardwood floor and was greeted by Leila, jumping up with her paws pressed to his chest. “Hey, girl.” Sunghoon smiled, scratching at her behind her ears.

“Leila, get down.” Jake scolded lightly and she listened, placing all four paws safely back on the floor. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay.”

“Jake? Is that Jake?” Jake shot Sunghoon a look before calling off down the hall, gesturing Sunghoon to follow him. “Jake! You’re home, and you brought your friend.” The two of them walked into the kitchen where Sunghoon was greeted with a wall of glass that looked out onto the back patio, an in-ground pool sparkling beneath the sun. 

A kindly looking woman with her hair held up in a rather messy half up-do greeted them both. She smiled, one so similar to Jake’s, and wiped her hands on her apron before walking over to greet him. “You must be Sunghoon. Jake won’t stop talking about you.”

“Mom.” Jake hissed in embarrassment from next to him, only causing Sunghoon to smile at the woman widely.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Shim.” He greeted, bowing his head lightly.

“Are you hungry? Dinner won’t be for some hours, and your father had to run to the store, Jake, so he’ll be back in a while. But I can fix you up a sandwich if you like, Sunghoon.” Jake’s mother offered and Sunghoon quickly and politely turned her down.

“I already ate this morning, but thank you. Your home is… really nice.” Sunghoon said, looking around, still taken aback by the vast amount of space and decoration. It wasn’t that he and his family were poor, far from it, but over the years, most of their income had gone towards the necessities only in order to pay for his figure skating. Their house was far from the space that was Jake’s. 

“If you change your mind, let me know. You both go outside with Ian and Tyler, okay?” She then went back to cooking, humming a song under her breath as Jake led Sunghoon over to the patio doors. 

“Your mother is very nice.” Sunghoon noted, feeling slightly more comfortable, but still weird knowing he was technically meeting his boyfriend’s family, even if they didn’t know that.

“Yeah, and my brother’s are the typical older brothers. Ian’s Korean name is Insoo and Tyler’s is Taekwon, but you can call them whatever. They don’t care much. You ready?” Jake asked and when Sunghoon nodded, Jake led him out back just as one of the boys pushed the other into the pool.

“Damnit, Insoo!” Taekwon, apparently, cursed after he surfaced from the pool, sputtering out water only to pause upon seeing Sunghoon and Jake. The older boy (Sunghoon was guessing somewhere around twenty) grinned and swam over to the edge, patting Insoo’s leg. “Awww, Jakey decided to come for once and he brought his friend.”

“And please be nice to him.” Jake practically begged, already looking exhausted. Sunghoon was slightly alarmed by what that might mean.

“Aren’t we always nice?” Insoo asked, hand on his heart as if he had been personally betrayed by such a question. Jake muttered something under his breath so lowly even Sunghoon couldn’t hear.

“This is Sunghoon. Like I said before, he’s visiting for the month with his family here. So I’m trying to show him that we’re all not just wild animals down here in the outback.”

Both of Jake’s older brother’s snickered and then Insoo stepped forward. “It’s nice meeting you, Sunghoon. Don’t worry if Taekwon and I seem more intimidating or cooler than Jake here. We’re actually very nice to Jake’s friends.”

“ _ Mostly  _ nice to Jake’s friends.” Taekwon corrected from the pool. “Some of them just need some ragging on, you know?”

“Oh god,” Jake groaned and grabbed Sunghoon’s arm. “Me and him are going to go change and then come down to swim with you, please refrain from plotting anything… weird.”

“Can’t make promises, Jakey!” One of them, Sunghoon didn’t see which, called from behind them as Jake dragged him back into the house and up the stairs.

“Sorry about them.” Jake apologized once they were in his room. “They’re usually pretty annoying and like to tease me and my friends as if they aren’t only a few years older than me.”

“I don’t mind.” Sunghoon assured him, before turning to look around at Jake’s walls. Posters of skateboarders and musicians lined his walls, a stack of books opened up on his desk with papers spewing everywhere. His bed was slightly messy, as if he had made it in a hurry in the morning. His room felt comfortable to Sunghoon.

“I’m going to let you change in here.” Jake told him, opening his dresser drawer and pulling out a pair of swim trunks. “I’ll go change in the hall bathroom. And I’ll knock before I, uh--come in.” Jake cleared his throat and Sunghoon nodded to him, also feeling slightly warm from what Jake had been alluding to. 

Once Jake was gone and the door was shut, Sunghoon took in a breath and began changing. He folded his clothes, setting them aside for later and then he turned towards a mirror that hung from what Sunghoon assumed was a closet door and looked at himself.

He definitely wasn’t bad looking. Sunghoon knew this purely because of the amount of compliments he had gotten in his life, but he himself found his body to be rather thin and somewhat lanky. He did have muscle, especially leg muscle however, and usually he didn’t feel so self-conscious. 

But now, standing in Jake’s bedroom wearing only a pair of swim trunks, Sunghoon suddenly felt a bit self-conscious about his body.

There was a knock on the door and he looked over it, telling Jake he could come in, feeling slightly strange that he was telling Jake he could come into his own room, and when Jake opened the door, Sunghoon’s breath caught in his throat.

Unlike the paleness of Sunghoon’s own skin from being on the ice for so many years, Jake was clearly used to being outside, his skin a smooth natural tan. He was also fit, his muscles defined but not overly so. He was clearly growing into himself. Sunghoon could hear the blood rushing through his head and he was so caught up in looking at Jake he didn’t notice that Jake was staring back at him, his own mouth slightly agape until Sunghoon managed to pull his head up just in time to see Jake snap his mouth shut.

“Uh--you ready?” Jake asked, his voice breaking. He quickly cleared his throat. “You ready?” He asked again, voice a bit steadier and eyes firmly focused on around Sunghoon’s right ear. 

“Yeah, I’m ready.” He agreed and followed Jake back down outside and to the patio, which was raised up onto a platform with a small deck surrounding it.

“Look who finally joined us!” Taekwon said, splashing water towards the both of them just enough to where it hit their feet. “The water is great, you should jump in!”

“We’re here aren’t we? We’re getting in--AH!” Jake screamed and Sunghoon laughed as he watched the other boy fall into the water. Jake’s brother’s were hysterical as Jake resurfaced, sputtering out water, looking like a wet puppy.

“Sunghoon!” Jake whined, pushing his hair back away from his face. Sunghoon grinned down at him so widely that his face was starting to hurt. “How could you betray me like that in front of my brother’s?”

Sunghoon sniggered and shrugged. “You got too close to the edge. I think you just fell in.”

“I like your friend, Jake. He’s cool.”

“Fell in… I’ll show you fell in…” Jake grumbled, lifting himself from the pool and Sunghoon turned, running off around it, laughing as Jake chased him. Insoo and Taekwon cheered from the water as Sunghoon zoomed around a couple of chairs on the deck, screaming and laughing as Jake got close to grabbing him. 

But then he took the wrong turn and he felt Jake grab his wrist and drag him towards the pool. “No!” He screamed as Jake pushed him in, but just in time, he grabbed a hold of Jake, pulling him down into the water with him with a loud splash.

When they both surfaced, they were laughing and almost at once jumped on by Jake’s brothers, the four of them screaming and yelling as they had fun in the water. And Sunghoon was definitely having fun.

And he felt right at home.

About an hour later, after Jake’s dad had gotten home and they’d met, he sat at the edge of the pool, watching as Taekwon played around with Leila and Insoo was inside helping his mother with the cooking. Sunghoon kicked his feet in the water, relaxing as the sun dried off his skin, waiting for Jake to get back from the bathroom.

He stared up at the bright sun high in the sky as he leaned back into his hands. Just two weeks ago, he had been somewhat dreading this trip. Sunghoon had hated the idea of being dragged away from home for a wedding he honestly didn’t care to attend. It wasn’t like he had much going on at home, but at least he had Jay to keep him company when he wasn’t busy with school, what did he have in Australia? Absolutely nothing.

And then Jake had skated right into his life, right into him, and now he was sitting at Jake’s family pool, thinking about how much he was dreading going home in two weeks. 

“Thinking about something?” Jake asked as he lowered himself down next to Sunghoon, dropping his legs into the pool as well. 

Sunghoon gave him a small smile, not wanting the day to turn sad. “Just about some things. Nothing important.” But it must’ve shown on his face that he was lying, because in the next moment, Jake slid his fingers subtly over Sunghoon’s, gently stroking them as he kept their eyes locked. 

His lashes fluttered a little as he glanced down and he swallowed tightly, wanting nothing more than to turn over his hand so that they could be palm to palm, fingers intertwining in the section of the deck between their legs. 

Instead he lifted his left hand and grasped at his right arm, gently extending a finger until he could touch Jake’s arm, stroking over the tan skin. He watched curiously as the hair on Jake’s arms raised into little bumps and then he scooted closer so that the entire back of his hand could stroke up and down his arm.

Jake’s fingers tightened around his and the small touches were so intense to Sunghoon that he felt himself losing his breath and wondered if it felt the same for Jake. 

“Hey, Jake, will you...” Sunghoon and Jake shot away from each other as if they were burned at the sound of Insoo’s voice coming up from behind them, but then it trailed off just as suddenly as it started.

Sunghoon could feel Insoo’s eyes looking between them even though he couldn’t see him from where he sat. His heart raced in his chest as if he had just ran a marathon and he clutched his arms around himself, trying to calm down.

“Uh--dad needs your help with something.” Insoo finished finally, almost as if he had forgotten what he was going to originally say.

“I’ll be right back.” Jake told him and Sunghoon nodded, watching him as he got up and went into the house. He saw Insoo staring at him and Sunghoon quickly turned back around, looking out at the water until he heard Insoo go back inside. 

Sunghoon wasn’t really sure why he was panicking so much. It wasn’t as if they were kissing. They were barely even touching. He had probably just assumed that Insoo had seen or guessed something. There was no reason to be so scared.

Even though deep inside, he knew just knowing that wouldn’t be enough. Not with the way the world was. Or, at the very least, Korea was. 

A few hours later, after they had all changed back into their clothes and the sun was getting lower in the sky, they all sat around the outdoor dining table, laughing as they talked about their days. Sunghoon smiled and listened, no longer feeling awkward, but actually welcome.

“So,” Jake’s father started from the head of the table. “Sunghoon, Jake tells us that you did ice skating?” 

Sunghoon glanced at Jake who mouthed ‘sorry’ at him, but he shook his head, letting him know that he wasn’t upset. “I did,” he instead answered, poking at the kimchi on his plate. “I started when I was about eleven, but I had been skating since I was eight. I actually did ice hockey first.”

“I didn’t know that.” Jake looked at him, surprise written on his face. “You didn’t tell me.”

“Does he have to tell you everything? You just met.” Taekwon said from across the table, causing Jake to quickly begin stuffing his face with food. 

“Ice hockey? That’s a tough sport too. What made you start figure skating?” Jake’s father inquired.

“I liked the skating part, I didn’t care as much for the hockey part. But I was better at figure skating than hockey anyway, so I think it was the right choice.”

“Why’d you stop?” Insoo asked and Sunghoon took in a breath.

“Insoo,” Jake scolded but Sunghoon lightly touched his knee beneath the table. 

“Uhm… I got into an accident last year and shattered my leg and hip. And I have chronic neck issues now. Skating is just… really tough on the body. I probably can’t compete at the level I used to anymore.” Sunghoon said lightly as silence filled the table.

“You know,” Mr. Shim began after a few moments. “I had a friend who used to be a huge rugby player until he fractured his spine. Doctors told him he’d never walk normally again, let alone play rugby. Guess what he’s doing now? Playing rugby.”

“Oh, I remember that friend. He’s doing very well for himself too, isn’t he? I think he’s even coaching his son’s team.” Mrs. Shim added and Sunghoon looked between the two of them, feeling something odd spark in his chest. 

After the table was cleared of food and dishes, Jake excused the two of them up to his room. The sun had fully set over the horizon, casting the room into darkness until Jake flipped on a switch.

“Sorry about the interrogation from my family earlier. I asked them not to mention it. I shouldn’t have even told them, it just sort of came out because I… I can’t seem to stop talking about you.” Jake rubbed at his neck shyly and Sunghoon smiled, going over to sit at the edge of Jake’s bed. 

“It’s okay. It’s not like it's a secret, and I don’t mind your family knowing. Actually… it’s been easier to talk and think about lately, ever since you brought me to the rink. I don’t think I ever thanked you for that, by the way.”

“You don’t need to thank me.” Jake assured and the two of them just looked at each other for a moment. “Mind if I turn on some music?” Sunghoon shook his head, telling him he didn’t mind and Jake quickly went over to his laptop, turning it on and quickly bringing up a playlist.

Sunghoon sat there, looking around the room until he could feel the bed sink and Jake sit next to him, but he didn’t look over.

The air was tense for some reason, but it wasn’t the bad kind of tense. Sunghoon wasn’t really sure how he could tell the difference between the two, but he could. It was more that the air was thick with unsaid thoughts and Sunghoon wondered if Jake was thinking the same things that he was. 

Sunghoon felt an internal itch as he thought back to earlier in the day by the pool, the way Jake discreetly held his hand, the way his skin pricked up at Sunghoon’s touch. And then he thought about how they hadn’t gotten to kiss even once all day and suddenly he was rubbing his hands along his jeans. Jake had changed into sweats and a t-shirt, but Sunghoon just had the clothes he’d come in; a loose, white top tucked into a french tuck with a pair of light-wash jeans held up by a dark leather belt. 

He felt a bit overdressed all of a sudden. 

“Did you have fun?” Jake asked suddenly as music played quietly through the room. It was loud enough that he could hear it, but quiet enough that Sunghoon couldn’t really make it out. Or maybe because he was so distracted by the feel of Jake’s body-heat wafting over from next to him. 

“I had a lot of fun. I don’t think I’ve had that much fun in at least a year. Maybe ever.” Sunghoon told him and Jake smiled, his brown eyes dropping to Sunghoon’s lips and before he even realized, they were both leaning in, their lips meeting.

The kisses were slow and languid, both of them careful to not get caught on Jake’s braces again. But they were getting used to it. Sunghoon felt a hand press against his thigh, just over his knee and he sighed into the kiss, shifting so that he was facing more towards Jake. 

The sounds of their kissing felt louder than the sounds of music, but Sunghoon kind of enjoyed that. He lifted his hand to press at the back of Jake’s neck, pulling him closer. He then leaned backwards until his back hit the mattress and Jake was hovering over him, their lips still attached, tongues dancing around each other.

There were no rushed movements, just a slow, intense heat that built up in Sunghoon’s stomach, rising to his chest to bloom. Jake’s hand which had been on his knee now rested upon his hip, squeezing with gentle grips. Sunghoon’s fingers found them in Jake’s hair, full of chlorine from their swimming session; it was dry and heavy feeling, but Sunghoon still enjoyed the feel of running his fingers through it.

Sunghoon wasn’t even sure how long they had been kissing, but his breath began to grow shorter until they both had to pull back to catch it. With half-lidded eyes, they looked at each other and Sunghoon wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what and before he could, Jake pressed a kiss to his jawline. 

His eyes fell shut, gripping at the back of his neck as he tilted his head, offering the other boy better access. Jake trailed little kisses from his jaw to his neck. Sunghoon took in a sharp breath when he was sure he felt a small nip at the base of his throat. 

The heat was growing more intense and Jake was no longer hovering over him but instead half laid atop of him, his weight a strangely comfortable feeling on top of Sunghoon. His toes curled, pressing into the edge of the bed. Jake’s fingers rubbing little circles over his shirt against his waist felt like they were setting miniature fires inside his body, burning hotly and brightly.

And then he felt Jake’s hand slid across the front of his waist, stopping to lay it flat against Sunghoon’s stomach. He shifted, giving a light gasp into the kiss that suddenly got a little deeper, hungrier. There was a slight tug on Sunghoon’s belt, but Sunghoon felt so dizzy from the kiss that he didn’t even notice until it was unbuckled and Jake’s fingers were at the top of his jeans.

“Mmh, w-wait…” Sunghoon gasped out, lifting his hand to lay atop Jake’s as he pulled away from the kiss, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. Once he did, he shook his head, Jake’s eyes growing wide upon realizing what he had been doing. “I’m not ready for that.”

“I’m sorry.” Jake breathed out, looking taken aback and ashamed. “I didn’t even realize I was doing it until you stopped me. I promise.” Jake moved his hand away quickly from the front of Sunghoon’s jeans, lifting it to press to Sunghoon’s cheek instead. “I really really promise.”

Sunghoon couldn’t help but to chuckle, causing Jake to jerk just a little as he was still mostly on top of his chest. “It’s okay. I’m not mad.” Sunghoon promised, leaning his head up in order to press a peck against his boyfriend’s lips. “I was just letting you know. I kind of… got caught up there in the moment too.”

Jake let out a breath, looking obviously relieved that he hadn’t crossed a line. He then lifted his hand to run through his hair, trying to push it out of the way of his face to no avail. “We both really got caught up in kissing.” He gave a small, shy grin that had Sunghoon wanting to lean forward and steal him back into another kiss. 

“Yeah, actually, we should probably have this conversation.” Sunghoon said lightly and Jake nodded, rolling off of him to instead lay next to him. “So, boundaries…” he began, taking in a breath as he thought. “Nothing in… that area. Thighs are okay. I kind of like that.” Sunghoon admitted, clearing his throat and glancing to the side, positive that he was blushing.

“Same here then.” Jake agreed. “Chest… is fine for me.” It was Jake’s turn to look away. Sunghoon could feel his face flame up as if he’d eaten the world’s hottest pepper, but he agreed because it was also okay for him. “Over or under?”

Sunghoon coughed into his hand. “Let’s start with all clothes on and then we can… discuss again in a few days.”

“Fine by me.” Jake’s voice sounded oddly high pitched. 

“So…” Sunghoon turned his head to look over at Jake. “Want to keep kissing?” 

Jake blinked at him and then grinned. “Yes.” They once again met in a fiery, eager kiss. It could be their hormones, the reason neither of them wanted to stop for longer than a second, but Sunghoon was pretty sure it was the desperation to not part from each other at all, and knowing that they would soon have to. 

\--

It was late when Sunghoon walked into the door of the Airbnb after being dropped off by Jake. The lights were all off and Sunghoon was in a dreamy state as he pulled off his shoes and headed towards the stairs. But just as he stepped on the landing, the lights flicked on in the living room and his mother, dressed in a robe and a frown on her face stood.

Sunghoon gulped, his hand clenching around the railing of the case. His mother up this late and looking like that was never a good sign. 

“Park Sunghoon… come in here. We’re going to have a talk.” His mother then turned, heading into the kitchen. Sunghoon took in a deep breath and followed her, seeing her already sitting at the table with a cup of hot tea. “Sit.” She stated, pointing at a chair across from her and he slowly lowered himself down into it without a word.

Sunghoon didn’t speak, knowing that he wasn’t allowed to. He glanced at the clock. His mother also didn’t speak for at least a good two minutes. It almost felt longer than that. 

“I know that this is supposed to be a vacation. But it’s also your aunt’s and my sister’s wedding and you have been absent for about every single thing except your tux fitting in the last two weeks.” His mother stated slowly, her hands around her cup as she stared straight at him. “You go off to places I don’t know, with someone I don’t know, and you don’t tell me a thing. Now I was trying to let you do this and have fun, like your father has said you deserve, but this is unlike you. You used to be so--”

“Scheduled?” Sunghoon interrupted, staring straight at his mother. “I used to be so… on time. Focused on training for figure skating, for my competitions and my career ever since I was eleven?”

His mother looked a little taken aback. “Sunghoon, that’s not--”

“I can’t skate anymore.” Sunghoon interrupted again, a heavy weight over his heart. “I can’t be the Sunghoon I used to be because that Sunghoon died the night I got into that accident one year ago.” He felt his eyes sting and he clenched his fist over the table’s cloth as he looked down at his knees. “There’s no point in trying to bring him back, because he doesn’t exist anymore.”

“The doctors could be wrong, I’ve said it before--”

“I went skating last week, mom.” Sunghoon told her, looking up and locking eyes with her, noticing the way her face lit up.

“Why didn’t you tell me? That’s amazing, Sunghoon.”

“I went skating and it was great.” He admitted, letting out a slow breath as his heart pounded like a drum in his chest. “And by the end of just a couple of hours of doing leisure skating, my leg and hip was killing me. And I felt so happy because at least I could skate even just a little. But I also realized that the dream we had is over. I don’t get to have that back. This isn’t some movie where I can overcome that and make a triumphant return to the skating world and go on to win gold at the olympics.” Without even realizing it, tears had begun falling down his cheeks in thick droplets, splattering across the back of his hand. “And I realized the reason that I refused to even try to skate for that entire year. Because a small part of me still had a little bit of hope that maybe I could, and as long as I didn’t face the fact that I couldn’t, I might still be able to make a comeback.

“But that’s not going to happen and I’ve finally faced that. And I’m okay with that.” He cleared his throat, lifting his hand to wipe at his face. “I didn’t want to come here at first, but it’s been good for me in ways I can’t even begin to explain to you, or even to myself. I’ll be there for the rehearsal and the wedding, but I need this time to figure out who I am, because I don’t know. And I don’t think I’ve ever actually known, mom.”

He took in a deep breath and looked up at her, his heart dropping when he saw the tears streaming down her own cheeks. Sunghoon quickly got up from his chair, going around the table to pull her into a hug, feeling her silent sobs rack against his chest. “Mom…” He said weakly, not having ever seen her this way before, not even after his accident.

“I shouldn’t have let you go… I should have told you no that day…” She sobbed out and Sunghoon hugged her even tighter, gently rocking her back and forth as he felt a cold shock over him.

Did she blame herself for Sunghoon’s accident? Was that what all of this was about?

“It’s not your fault.” He told her quietly, murmuring into the darkness of the kitchen, the only light from just over the stove and the living room. “It’s nobody’s fault except that drunk driver’s… and he paid the ultimate consequence for that.”

“Sunghoon… your dream…” She clutched at his shoulders, looking up at him with eyes swimming with tears. “You had such a future.”

“I still have a future, and I can find a new dream.” He pointed out, grasping at her hand. “I don’t know what dream that is yet. I might not know for a while. But I’m alive and I’m healthy and I’m… really happy. Happier than I ever was. I promise. I don’t blame you and I’m not mad at you. You supported me and did everything for me so I could skate for as long as I possibly could.” A new set of tears broke free from himself and he grabbed his mother, pulling her into a tight hug. “Now it’s just time for something new.”

**January, 2019, Day 16**

“You know you have a mole here? On your shoulder?” Jake pressed the tip of his finger into the back of Sunghoon’s shoulder blade as they sat on the edge of Jake’s swimming pool Monday afternoon. The light touch caused a tickling sensation to spread over his shoulder, especially when the one finger became two then three then Jake’s full hand tracing designs over his back.

“I have quite a few.” Sunghoon told him, trying to hold back his shiver as he watched Jake’s hand dance around his skin. There was no one else outside, and no one in view. They sat hip to hip with little worry that someone could see them. Sunghoon had to admit that it felt nice being able to just be so close to Jake like this.

Jake glanced towards the house and then leaned forward, pressing his lips out protruding bone of Sunghoon’s shoulder. Sunghoon gave a slightly nervous laugh, glancing over to the house, but he saw no one and relaxed as their fingers intertwined on top of Sunghoon’s leg. 

He took in slow, deep breaths as Jake lay soft kisses along his skin until their lips hovered mere centimeters away. It was Sunghoon who leaned forward to capture the other in a kiss, burning just as hotly inside as they were on the outside from the harsh sun. 

“God, it’s been so long since you’ve come, Amber--” The two of them quickly broke apart at the sound of Jake’s mother’s voice and Sunghoon dropped down into the pool, floating just a bit away from the edge as the back gate opened and Mrs. Shim entered next to a pretty girl, her dark hair braided and tossed over her left shoulder.

“Stopping by here was first on my list, Kiyeon.” Sunghoon pricked up at the girl calling Mrs. Shim by her name and watched as Jake stared in slight shock at the girl. Sunghoon looked between them as the girl grinned over, her hands on her hips. “Aren’t you going to greet me, Jake?”

“Amber!” Jake jumped up from his spot at the pool and jumped off the deck, running over to her and picking her up, her feet dangling off the ground until she was set back down. Neither of them seemed to mind that Jake was practically naked, dressed only in his swim trunks, but the burning sensation in Sunghoon’s stomach told him he definitely minded. “What are you doing here?”

“What, I can’t fly halfway across the country to come see my favorite person?” She asked with a bright laugh.

“Of course you can, except you haven’t done it once in over two years.” Jake pulled her back into another hug and Sunghoon had to swallow down the lump that appeared in his throat at the sight. 

“I’ll leave you both to get reacquainted.” Mrs. Shim stated. Sunghoon didn’t fail to notice the wink that she sent the both of them before she went inside.

“Thanks again, Kiyeon for keeping it a surprise!” Amber called out to her before the older woman disappeared inside. “So you gonna introduce me to your friend, Jaeyoon?”

“Huh?” Jake blinked and then turned to Sunghoon. “Right, this is my friend Sunghoon. He’s visiting for this month with his family and I kinda met him by accidentally running him over while skateboarding.”

“Sounds like you.” Amber rolled her eyes and then smiled, walking over to the pool and waving down at Sunghoon who tried to smile. “Hi, I’m Amber. Jake’s childhood friend.”

“We went to the same Korean church as kids and kind of became inseparable until she up and left me a few years ago.” Jake sighed dramatically, dropping back down on the edge of the pool. Amber slipped her shoes off and hiked up her jeans to her knees before sitting at the edge as well. Sunghoon decided to just stay in the water, feeling like it was cooling him off and he needed that.

“Decided I had enough of him and needed to get away.” Amber teased, lightly smacking Jake’s arm. 

“Anyway, for real, what are you doing here? And why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to surprise you and I’m here because my uncle is getting married later this week.” Sunghoon felt something drop, maybe his stomach.

“Really? That’s weird. Sunghoon’s aunt is getting married on Friday.” Amber looked over at Sunghoon in slight shock.

“Is your aunt Kim Soohye?”

Sunghoon took in a breath and nodded, pushing a smile onto his face. “That’s my aunt. Looks like your uncle and my aunt are going to be married…”

“Wow, what a small world. So we’re basically going to be family now.”

Sunghoon hummed and pushed himself up to sit on the other side of Jake. “How cool is that?” Jake asked, looking between the two fo them. “Two of my best friends who never met before are now going to be family. Crazy…”

“Right? Now we just need to find a way to bring you into this mixed up family, Jakey-yoon.” Amber reached forward, pinching Jake’s cheeks and Sunghoon could feel himself bristling, wanting nothing more than to reach over and push her hand away from  _ his  _ boyfriend. “Though, I’m sure your mom has some ideas on how to make that happen.” She winked and Sunghoon’s hands clenched around the edge of the pool.

Jake growned, looking down at his knees in apparent embarrassment. “Please don’t remind me. She’s been pushing for us to get married since we were like seven. She’d probably be beyond thrilled if it happened for real.”

“Ha, well, we still have time.” Amber kicked her feet, splashing water over at Jake except it hit Sunghoon who took in a deep breath to calm himself. 

“I’m going to go use the bathroom, Jake.” Sunghoon told his boyfriend before pushing himself up and heading towards the bathroom.

“He doesn’t talk that much, does he?” He heard Amber ask just before he got to the door.

“He usually talks more. I’m not sure what’s wrong with him.”

Sunghoon grabbed a towel to dry himself off very quickly before he headed up the stairs and into the bathroom. He didn’t actually have to go but he couldn’t sit around that display of totally inappropriate flirting much longer.

He leaned against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest as he thought about how Jake could just flirt with some girl right in front of him. So what if she was a childhood friend and this was just how they probably acted; Sunghoon was his  _ boyfriend  _ and he got completely ignored in favor of her.

The bubbling in his stomach was like a witch’s toxic brew bubbling in a cauldron. Sunghoon hated to say he was jealous, he had never really been jealous before, but he knew that must be what this feeling was. He just felt… abandoned? And it had only been a few minutes.

Perhaps he was pathetic and thinking too much into this. She was his best friend, of course he was excited to see her after apparently two years of not seeing her. If he hadn’t seen Jay for two years, he probably would’ve felt the same exact way. 

He took in a breath and closed his eyes, slowly blowing it out until he could feel himself calming down. He was being ridiculous. It really was no big deal. 

Sunghoon left the bathroom, but went to Jake’s room to change back into his clothes. He was done with swimming, and perhaps if he let this jealousy get to himself, he could leave, but for now he would go downstairs, be nice, and get to know Jake’s best friend.

Because, after all, if he was going to be Jake’s  _ boyfriend _ , he needed to get to know his friends. 

When Sunghoon got back downstairs, he came to an abrupt stop just outside the door to the backyard. Amber was laughing, practically screaming as Jake held her over the pool, threatening to drop her into it. Seeing the way Jake had his arms around her, holding her firmly so that she didn’t actually fall got that tense ball of heat building back up in the pit of his stomach. 

He wanted to vomit.

“Aren’t they cute together?” Mrs. Shim sighed wistfully as she stepped up next to him, staring out at her son and his friend. “I keep telling them they’d make the perfect couple, and I think they know that too, but they just need a bit longer to get there I suppose. But those two… they’re definitely going to end up together. It’s like one of those soulmate type situations, you know?”

“I’m sure…” Sunghoon murmured and Mrs. Shim gave him a light pat on the arm before going back to whatever she was doing before. “Uh, Mrs. Shim?” Sunghoon turned towards his boyfriend’s mother who looked up at him questioningly. “I don’t want to bug Jake while his friend is here. I got a text from my mom and I have to head back… can you let him know when he comes inside?”

“Oh sure, but are you sure you don’t need a ride back? I can give you one if you like--”

“No, it’s okay.” He assured quickly. “I can take the bus. I’ve got the number memorized. I’ll be okay. Thank you though.”

“Of course. Be safe, okay, sweetie?” Sunghoon smiles and promises he will be. With a last look out at Jake and Amber, he leaves the Shim household and heads for home. 

\--

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ y u leave w/out telling me? :( i couldve driven u home. amber wouldnt have minded _

_ i didnt want to bother u. Ur friend just showed up after 2 yrs. its ok i got home ok _

**Jake🐕** **  
** _ oh ok _ _   
_ _ r we still on 4 tomorrow? _

_ of course :) wouldnt miss it _

Sunghoon dropped his phone on his bed next to him and stared up at the ceiling in thought. He probably shouldn’t have just upped and left without telling Jake like that, but he needed to get out of there before he did or said something he would regret. 

He had never experienced jealousy like this before. The only thing similar was the time that he had lost a gold championship by a mere twelve points. That had been when he was thirteen and ever since then, it had been straight gold. 

But this felt even worse, because there was nothing actually wrong. Jake was just interacting with a friend. A friend who knew him way longer and better than Sunghoon did. A friend that had probably gone through so many things with Jake. A friend that he couldn’t possibly begin to measure up to in closeness towards Jake.

A  _ girl  _ friend.

It was stupid. Sunghoon knew it was stupid because at the end of the day, Sunghoon was the one that Jake was kissing, who Jake very clearly enjoyed kissing. Sunghoon wasn’t a girl. This obviously didn’t bother Jake.

But in the back of his mind he couldn’t help but think about how Jake had said he wasn’t gay. Maybe he knew that for a reason, because maybe he was attracted to girls. Maybe he was attracted to Amber.  _ But he’s still attracted to me, _ a small part of him tried to tell himself and he knew that to be true.

Maybe Jake was bisexual. That’s fine. Jake could be attracted to girls all he wants. It’s Amber that’s the issue. 

They were so close and Sunghoon felt like he was just getting to know Jake.

He picked up his phone and quickly scrolled through his contacts before finding the one he wanted and pressing the call button. It only took a couple of rings for an answer.

“I had kind of thought that you had forgotten all about me and dropped me as a friend considering you haven’t texted or called, you know.” 

“Sorry,” Sunghoon apologized as his best friend Jay spoke into the phone. “I’ve been kind of busy.”

“Yeah, I know, I see all your IG posts.” Sunghoon let out a small laugh. “So what do I owe the rare pleasure of talking to my once formerly best friend Park Sunghoon?”

“What do you do when you like somebody but suddenly their best friend shows up and suddenly they’re hanging all over each other and then you just get irrationally jealous?” He asks quickly, hoping Jay won’t ask too many questions.

There’s silence on the other end of the line for a moment and then, “Is this hypothetical or actual?”

Sunghoon picks at an invisible piece of fuzz on his shirt. “...Actual.”

“Ohhhhhkay…” Jay said slowly, his word trailing into silence. “Well, it seems like I’ve missed even more of your crazy Australian vacay than I even realized. You  _ like  _ someone? Mr. Park Sunghoon Ice Prince Cold as Stone Gold Medalist Figure Skater likes someone?”

He rolled his eyes, shaking his head at the overly long and exasperated nickname. “Jay, if you can’t answer the question I’m hanging up. In 5… 4… 3--”

“Wait, wait,” Jay stated quickly into the phone. “Wait. No, I can help. I have tons of experiences in the matter of the heart. You know. Unreciprocated ones.”

“Jay… I’m desperate.” Sunghoon begged, shifting until he was sat up in bed, leaning back against the headboard. 

“God, I want to know so badly what kind of girl you found yourself out there, but since you’re my friend and you need advice, I’ll wait till you’re home to question you.”

“Thanks…” He muttered, wondering in the back of his mind how Jay would react to Sunghoon dating a boy. 

“There’s really only one thing you can do in this case, Sunghoon.” Sunghoon held his breath, waiting for the answer. “Talk to them about it.”

Sunghoon groaned and rolled over, burrowing his head into his pillow. “I don’t like that answer…”

“Okay, well. You can always stake your claim or something in a very obvious way? I don’t know, you can get into trouble with that if your girl doesn’t like it though.” Sunghoon let out a heavy sigh at the second option. 

“Can I just be moody instead?”

“You can be, but that won’t make you feel any better.” 

“You suck at advice, Jay.” 

“Do not. You just suck at taking it.” Sunghoon had to agree there. He knew Jay’s advice was good. He should talk to Jake about it. But what if Jake got offended and never wanted to see him again? His heart might break in that case. 

**January, 2019, Day 17**

“I hope you don’t mind, I invited Amber to go bowling with us!” Jake stated, grinning excitedly as Sunghoon was forced into the backseat of the car because the front was already taken by a girl typing into her phone.

“I don’t mind.” He said lightly even though yes, he very much did mind. 

“Hi! Nice seeing you again!” Amber smiled, looking over her shoulder at him once she was done texting. Sunghoon gave her a small smile back and pulled on his seatbelt. Then the music was turned up and Jake pulled off, chattering away with Amber about whatever it was they had been talking about before Sunghoon showed up.

Sunghoon sighed and leaned against the window, already feeling out of place.

The bowling alley was bright and loud and full of people and Sunghoon wanted nothing more than to go back home and crawl beneath his covers, but he forced himself to follow Jake and Amber through the line to get shoes. He then trailed behind them, staring at their backs, as they headed towards their lane.

He wondered if either of them ever stopped talking. 

He sat on the end of one side of the lane, pulling on his rented bowling shoes as he eyed Amber and Jake on the other side of the lane. Every once in a while, Amber would lay her hand across Jake’s arm and he’d be laughing at something she said. Apparently Amber was hilarious and Sunghoon felt a wave of annoyance wash over him.

He tried to have fun, he really did, and he could tell that Jake was trying to pull him into the conversation, but most of the time Sunghoon had no idea what they were talking about. He didn’t know what to say so he just said one word or shrugged and Jake would look at him before going back to talking to Amber.

In all honesty, it kind of made him feel a bit like crap. 

Sunghoon was having no fun and he was being no fun and he knew this. He felt bad, but he wasn’t sure what he could do to change it. Every time he looked at the two of them interacting, all he could see was Amber coming to steal Jake away. 

Not that she had to try since he was more her’s than his to begin with. 

After a while, they all got hungry and input an order into the concession. Once it was ready, Jake told them to go ahead and wait, and he’d go collect the food and once Jake was out of earshot, Amber scooted over and smiled at him. 

“Hi,” she stated, her smile so nice and kind that Sunghoon felt bad that he kind of hated her. 

“Hi.” He replied and then looked back at the lanes.

“You know, Jake hasn’t ever really had any friends like you before.” Sunghoon glanced over. “Usually his friends are kind of loud and obnoxious. They want to go skate around--smoke. I always was worried Jake would start getting into things he shouldn’t around them, but you’re nothing like them.”

“No, I’m not.” He said lightly, leaning back into the seat. 

Amber hummed, looking off in the direction that Jake had gone. “It’s nice that he has a friend like you. He seems happy and I heard you’ve been hanging out a lot lately so I guess I have you to thank for that.” Sunghoon started to smile a little until it dropped with her next statement. “His mom really wants me and him to get together. I don’t know. When I was young, I thought the idea was kind of weird, but I love Jake. He could be a great boyfriend or even husband some day, don’t you think?”

Sunghoon swallowed tightly and then a moment later Jake came over, setting down their trays of food. Jake plopped down between the two of them, saying something to the both of them but Sunghoon’s head was swimming and he couldn’t really make out what was being said, purely for the fact that his mind was still stuck on Amber’s words.

_ His mom really wants me and him to get together… I love Jake… great boyfriend or even husband some day, don’t you think? _

Sunghoon leaned down, removing his rented bowling shoes before grabbing his from beneath the seat, pulling them back on.

“Sunghoon?” Jake questioned, his mouth full of fries. He quickly chewed and swallowed, looking at him as he stood. “Where are you going?”

He took in a deep breath and turned to look at Jake. “I’m going home. I don’t feel--actually, I just want to go home. It’s fine. I can take the bus or a cab or an uber--you don’t need to worry.” He stated, stepping backwards.

Jake and Amber shared a surprised look before Jake stood. “Wait, what’s going on?”

“I’ll talk to you later Jake.” Sunghoon quickly said before turning and hurrying out the building. He could hear Jake say something to Amber and a few moments after he had reached the parking lot, he heard the bowling alley door open and footsteps hurrying towards him.

Before he could get away, he felt Jake grab at his wrist, stopping him. “Sunghoon, what’s up with you? Why did you just walk out like that? I mean, that’s a little rude don’t you think?”

“Rude?” Sunghoon fired off, turning and tugging his arm away from Jake, ignoring the shocked and hurt look on the other boy’s face. “What about you ditching me for your girlfriend?”

“G-girlfriend?” Jake choked and then suddenly he was laughing, leaning over to rest his hands on his knees for a moment. Sunghoon didn’t find it funny and just stared at him. “You mean Amber? She’s not my girlfriend.”

“It sure seems like considering the moment she showed up yesterday you barely even looked at me. It was all about Amber.” Sunghoon could feel himself spitting the name, the fiery anger flaring through him coming out in full force. “And then today--we had a date and you bring her along without even telling me? The entire time you’re just talking to her and ignoring me.”

“I tried to bring you into the conversation, but you wouldn’t talk!” Jake defended, his voice clearly trying to hold back his own anger, upset written on his face.

“You tried? Not really. Most of the time I didn’t even know what you were talking about. But it’s fine, I get it. She’s your best friend. Your mom loves her, your family loves her, you clearly love her.”

“Because she’s my friend!” Jake groaned, as if he was explaining something that Sunghoon just didn’t get, but Jake was the one who didn’t get it.

“Yeah and your mom thinks you’re going to get married with kids and she’s clearly all for the idea, at least that’s what she told me while you were gone.”

“What? She told you that?” Jake’s voice was now one of confusion. “Listen, I don’t have feelings for her like that. It’s just that I haven’t seen her in so long and I was excited and she’s leaving right after the wedding--”

“So am I!” Sunghoon raised his voice, ignoring the group of teens looking at them and holding back their nosiness as they headed inside the building. “I’m leaving next week to an entirely different country. I’m only here for a month--less than that. You two can visit whenever you want, I’m an entire day’s flight and thousands of dollars away. And I kind of just wanted to spend time with you some more.”

“I…” Jake seemed to be at a loss for words, not knowing what to say. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think…”

Sunghoon stared at him and then sighed. “You know what I think? I think that this was stupid.” He told Jake, lowering his voice until it was almost a murmur.

“W-what’s stupid?” Jake asked, staring at him with wide eyes, looking as if he already knew. And maybe he did.

“This.” Sunghoon points between the two of them. “We don’t even know each other. We’ve known eachother two weeks and we’re already fighting like this? This is just an Australian summer fling because I’m going home next week and we’ll probably grow apart and forget about each other and move on with our lives and never see each other again. And I think we both knew that already.”

“I didn’t know that.” Jake denied, his voice breaking. Sunghoon felt like a little piece of his heart broke off at the absolute distraught look on Jake's face, but he couldn’t take back what he said.

Because everything he had said was right. 

What were they thinking?

“It was a great two weeks, Jake, but it’s time for both of us to face the facts.”

“What facts?” Jake asked, wiping his face free of tears that hadn’t fallen. “The fact that you’re scared? The fact that you’ve been terrified for a year? Probably longer than that because all you did was eat, breath, and sleep ice skating. You didn’t have a life and now you’re being forced to have one and you’re running scared from it!”

“I’m not scared.” Sunghoon denied, feeling as if he had been punched in the gut. “No, you know what, I’m done with this. I don’t have to defend myself to someone that doesn’t know what a dream is if it hit him in the face.”

Jake took a step back and Sunghoon wanted to take his words back right away, but he swallowed down the urge and stood his ground. 

“Fine.” Jake said after a moment, shaking his head and taking another step away. “Fine. It’s over. We’re done. Have a great life and a safe, boring trip back to Korea.” He turned on his heel, storming into the bowling alley. 

Sunghoon felt himself tremble and he closed his eyes, forcing back all of his emotions because he was stronger than this, better than this. He wouldn’t cry because of some stupid boy he barely knew. 

That just wasn’t the sort of person he was.

Except when he got back to his temporary home and stormed up to his room, burrowing himself beneath his pillows and blankets, he finally let himself break down and cry. Because he was just a teenager and Sunghoon could feel his heart breaking.

**January, 2019, Day 18**

In all of Sunghoon’s anger and jealousy over Amber, he had sort of forgotten that they would be forced to see each other for the rehearsal dinner as well as the wedding. 

So he sat there, silently, on one side of the table, directly across from Amber who seemed to be trying to catch his eye. He ignored her, concentrating on following along with the instructions. It was almost as if he was on auto-pilot, following the movements without really thinking much about them. But that’s how he preferred it.

Sunghoon was tired.

Exhausted, in fact, as he had gotten very little sleep. He’d spent the night upset and crying and feeling silly because he had spent the night upset and crying over some stupid boy that he didn’t even actually know. But that didn’t stop him from scrolling through all of their messages and looking at the pictures they had taken over the last couple of weeks.

He wanted to delete them. His thumb hovered over the buttons to delete them on a few separate occasions, but he never pressed it, something deep inside of him telling him that he would regret it if he did. 

Sunghoon figured that he just wasn’t ready.

A two week long relationship was doing this to him? He really was kind of pathetic, huh?

After the dinner came time for mingling. Sunghoon excused himself, not really in the mood to be around anyone at the moment. He walked out onto a balcony overlooking the city and sighed, his mind taken back to the Wheel of Brisbane and his first kiss with Jake.

He could actually see the Wheel of Brisbane from here. He hated it.

The door slid open from behind him and for a moment he could hear the sounds of laughter coming from inside. He looked over his shoulder and sighed as he saw Amber. The small girl closed the door and joined him over by the balcony. 

They were both silent for a few minutes before Amber spoke.

“I miss it here. Where I live now is okay, but Brisbane is where I grew up and where all my friends are. Including Jake.” Sunghoon took in a breath, not saying anything in reply as he looked down. The wind blew particularly hard for a moment and Sunghoon had to run his fingers through his hair to fix it once it had calmed. 

“Jake told me what you argued about.” She continued, her voice soft. Sunghoon’s jaw clenched a little. Jake had told her what exactly? “He also told me about your relationship. I’m sorry… I hadn’t known, Jake never said…” her voice trailed off.

Sunghoon straightened up, clutching at the balcony railing with his hands and let out a sharp breath. “Well, I didn’t exactly want anyone to know, but I guess it’s fine.”

“Jake and I are just friends.” She told him, turning to face him. “I know what I said, but I don’t have feelings for him and I never would have said that had I known that you two are dating.”

“Were.” Sunghoon quickly corrected, glancing over at her.

She sighed softly. “Were dating. And about what his mom said, she’s been saying that since we were kids but I know her and I know Jake’s family and they would always accept the two of you being together because that’s the kind of people that they are.”

Sunghoon took a small step back and leaned against the stone wall, staring up into the dark sky, so few stars appearing because of the light pollution. It made Sunghoon sad in this moment. 

“And everything I told Jake still holds. We barely know each other.”

“Isn’t that what a relationship is about though? Getting to know one another?” Amber questions, looking almost hopeful. Sunghoon just stared. “I know you’re leaving, but I also know Jake and he really is exactly like a dog. He’s kind and loyal and he would be loyal for something long distance, I’m sure of that.”

Sunghoon swallowed tightly, feeling an uneasiness in his stomach. “The stuff I said to him, what he said to me, I…” It had hurt. 

“He’s sorry about that. And I can tell you’re sorry. Just talk to him? The moment we got in the car he broke down crying, I had to drive him home in his own car.” Amber forced out a laugh, but neither really found it funny. “Please?”

Sunghoon looked at her, considering her words before he quickly shook his head. “No. This is for the best. A summer fling in Australia can stay a summer fling in Australia… meanwhile I’ll be going back home to winter.” He pushed off the wall. “I need to get back inside. I appreciate you coming to talk, but I just… can’t.”

He ignored her plea to wait and walked inside. This was his decision and it was final.

**January, 2019, Day 20**

The wedding went off without a hitch. His aunt and Amber’s uncle were happily married and the party was in full swing. Everyone was having a good time laughing, dancing, eating, and drinking. 

Sunghoon kind of wished he could be drinking. 

Once in a while, he caught himself eyeing the glasses of champagne. It would be so easy to take one and the part of himself that knew he’d be scolded to hell and back by his mother if he got caught had a lack of caring at the moment. Sunghoon just wasn’t having a good time.

Amber was nowhere to be seen but Sunghoon was more than okay with that. He didn’t feel up to seeing her. Quite frankly, he couldn’t wait to go back home--not the home he was staying at here, but Korea. He missed his house, he missed his bed, he missed his best friend, he missed the food, he missed the atmosphere. And he missed not thinking about Jake at every single turn. 

“Are you okay?” Gaeun asked from next to him, a worried frown pulling at her lips. 

Sunghoon looked over at her, pushing a smile onto his lips. “Of course I’m okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You just don’t seem happy lately.” Sunghoon’s smile wavered before it steadied and he reached forward to pat her head.

“I’m just feeling a bit under the weather, Gaeun. I’m okay. I promise.” Gaeun looked unsure, but nodded and then excused herself to go dance. Sunghoon watched her a little enviously, wishing he could be happy like that and want to dance, because he did actually enjoy it.

He was fairly good at it too.

“I need you to come with me--” a hurried voice said from his left and Sunghoon looked up and over, seeing Amber, a panicked expression on her face. Sunghoon could feel his stomach drop as a wave of worry washed over him.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, his mind automatically going to the worst possible outcomes because there was only one reason Amber would be coming up to him with such fright on her face.

“It’s Jake, he--I don’t have time to explain, I just need you to come with me.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him up before tugging him out of the banquet room.

“W-what? Hey, Amber--” he stumbled after her, having no choice but to keep up as she pulled him down the hall. “What’s going on?”

“Look, there’s no time, I just need you--there! Have fun!” She suddenly pushed him into a room, waving with a smile before slamming the door shut, leaving him in the room by himself.

Well, not by himself. Jake was there.

He faced the other boy with fury on his face and Jake quickly stood up straight from where he was leaning against the table. “What is this?” He demanded, taking a step closer.

“I just want to talk. I’m sorry I had Amber get you in here like that, but I didn’t think you would speak to me any other way.” Jake said quickly, trying to explain himself before Sunghoon turned and left. 

“You’re right, I wouldn’t have.” He crossed his arms and sighed. “I was really worried. I thought you… got into an accident.” He murmured, the memory of his own flashing through his head. 

“I’m sorry,” Jake said quietly, taking a few steps closer. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for this and for everything I said and I just--I want to talk. Can we please talk?” He begged, reaching out to grab Sunghoon’s hands.

Sunghoon let him, feeling a flood of warmth spread through his body at the skin contact within seconds. It had only been a few days, but he had to admit that he missed the touching. 

“Five minutes.” He finally agreed, not failing to notice the relieved breath that Jake took. Jake nodded and then pulled him over to a chair, sitting him down in it. 

“I want to start off by saying you’re right. I did ignore you because of Amber. I let the thrill of seeing an old friend take control of me and I should’ve been more aware. I should’ve also at least asked you first before inviting her to go bowling with us. That was supposed to be a date and I ruined it.” Sunghoon hummed, agreeing with everything he said.

He looked down at their hands, at the way Jake’s thumb gently stroked back and forth over the back of his hand and he gave Jake’s a small squeeze. “I’ll admit, I kind of let irrational jealousy get the better of me. I’ve never experienced anything like that before. I’ve… never been in a relationship before.” He admitted, his voice quiet.

“Never?” Jake asked, his voice surprised, eyebrows shooting straight up into his hair. Sunghoon shook his head. “Oh…”

“I didn’t have time.” Sunghoon explained. “Between all my training for skating and then this last year with rehab. I wasn’t remotely interested in anyone, at least not enough to risk anything. But then there’s you…”

“I want to try.” Jake stated, scooting his chair even closer. “I want to try this again. I know you’re leaving in less than a week and I know that it might not work out, but don’t we owe it to ourselves to at least see if it might?” Sunghoon looked at him, their eyes locked on each other’s. 

His heart sped just a little beneath his ribs. He squeezed his hands, finding comfort in it. “I don’t know how something like that would work.”

“Neither do I, but we can figure it out.” Jake implored, pulling one hand from Sunghoon’s to place on his face. Sunghoon’s lashes fluttered just a little as he fought to keep his eyes from closing as a natural response. Jake’s thumb lightly stroked over his cheekbone, as if admiring something beautiful. “I trust that we can figure it out. I… really like you, Sunghoon.”

“I like you too.” He admitted softly, Jake’s smile causing his heart to skip a beat. “I might more than like you.” Jake’s stroking stuttered a little and before he knew it, Jake was pulling him in by the back of his neck and their lips met in a desperate kiss. 

Sunghoon grasped at his shoulder with one of his hands, two of their hands still intertwined on his lap. All he could hear was the sound of his heart beating, the smacking of their lips meeting, and the breathy gasps they each released as they tried to catch their breath.

When they pulled apart, Sunghoon leant his head against Jake’s and the two of them looked at each other, breathless and smiling. 

“Do you want to dance?” Sunghoon breathed out in question.

“We don’t have any music.” Jake murmured, but Sunghoon quickly pulled out his phone and turned on a slow, romantic song. “I guess we do now.” Jake laughed out and grasped Sunghoon’s hand tightly, pulling him out of the chair as he stood and against his body.

Sunghoon smiled and wrapped his arms around Jake, leaning into the shorter boy. Jake linked his arms around his waist and the two of them swayed in the darkness of the room, forgetting for a moment that a world outside the two of them existed.

**January, 2019, Final Day**

The sounds of the airport surrounded Sunghoon and he felt a horrid dread at the idea of getting on the plane. Not because he was afraid it was going to crash, but because getting on the plane meant that he would be leaving Australia, leaving Jake, and he didn’t know when he would get to see him again. 

Which was why he had told his family he would catch up with them, to go on ahead through security and he would be only five minutes behind them. He wanted a minute to say bye to his friend who had come to see him off. Except Jake was more than a friend and the moment they were out of view, Sunghoon flung his arms around Jake and clung.

“I don’t want to leave.” Sunghoon muttered into Jake’s shoulder who lifted his arms up to hug him tightly, clearly not wanting him to leave either. 

“We’ll make plans.” Jake’s voice was muffled by Sunghoon’s own shoulder, so much so that Sunghoon almost didn’t hear him. Jake cleared his throat and adjusted himself, pulling back just enough so that they could look at each other. “There’s holidays, and vacations, and we’ll definitely see each other again.” He promised and Sunghoon gave a small nod before taking in a deep breath and stepping back, grabbing his carryon bag from the floor and flinging the strap over his shoulder.

“So this is bye… for now.” Sunghoon swallowed tightly but smiled, happy at least that he got to leave on good terms, got to leave with someone to text the moment he got home and let know he had arrived safely.

Someone that he was definitely falling in love with. 

“Just for now.” Jake agreed, licking over his lips. “Can I… can I kiss you? Your family can’t see, I promise.” 

Sunghoon’s heart lurched and he almost wanted to say that he didn’t care if they did see, but instead he merely nodded and met Jake half-way, their lips melting together in a kiss spilling with their wistfulness that they wouldn’t have to part.

But eventually, they did have to part, their fingers clinging for as long as they possibly could before Sunghoon stepped backwards. 

“It’s just for now.” Sunghoon reiterated, determined to not let his voice break because this shouldn’t be sad. It should be hopeful. He would see Jake again, that was a fact they were both determined to make come true. 

“Text me when you get home, okay?” Jake’s voice did break however and it almost had Sunghoon running back to his arms, but he stood his ground. “Need to make sure you get there safely.”

“I will.” A few more steps backwards. “I promise.” He was at the gate to the entrance to security and he clutched at the strap of his bag between his hands. “I’ll see you later, Jake.” He lifted his hand in a small wave, wishing he could hold Jake’s hand instead.

“I’ll see you later, Sunghoon.” Jake promised back and Sunghoon watched him for a moment longer before turning and heading through airport security.

They had promised to see each other again. Sunghoon just had to make sure that this promise would be kept, that the two of them really would see each other again. 

They kept their promise. 

  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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